IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 


David  Starr  Jordan,  LL.  D.,  President  of 
Leland  Stanford  Junior  University. 


IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY* 

A  STUDY  OF  THE  RELATION  OF  GOVERNMENT 
BY  THE  PEOPLE,  EQUALITY  BEFORE  THE  LAW, 
AND  OTHER  TENETS  OF  DEMOCRACY,  TO  THE 
DEMANDS  OF  A  VIGOROUS  FOREIGN  POLICY 
AND  OTHER  DEMANDS  OF  IMPERIAL  DOMINION 


BY 

DAVID  STARR  JORDAN 

PRESIDENT   OF   LELAND    STANFORD,   JR.,    UNIVERSITY 


"  They  enslave  their  cHi'dren's  children  who 
make  compromise  -*it!i  s>:nj'     ,     , 


.  ~  •"••;•"• ; 

NIYEKSI1 

^CALIF^SS^ 


NEW  YORK 

D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 
1901 


COPYRIGHT,  1899, 
BY  D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY. 


TO 

JOHN  J.  VALENTINE,  ESQ., 

OF 

OAKLAND,  CALIFORNIA, 

IN 
RECOGNITION  OF  HIS  UNSELFISH  PATRIOTISM 

AND 
UNSHAKEN   COURAGE. 


82836 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


The  present  volume  contains  eight  addresses  bearing  on  the 
policy  of  the  United  States,  especially  concerning  the  war  with 
Spain  and  its  results. 

The  first  address  "  Lest  We  Forget,"  was  delivered  May  25th, 
1898,  on  the  occasion  of  the  graduation  of  the  Class  of  1898,  in 
the  Leland  Stanford  Junior  University.  As  this  address  has  in  a 
sense  a  historical  value,  being  one  of  the  very  first  of  hiany  of 
its  kind,  it  is  here  published  exactly  as  delivered  with  the  change 
of  a  word  or  two  only  and  the  omission  of  a  brief  quotation. 
The  second  address,  "Colonial  Expansion,"  delivered  before 
the  Congress  of  Religions  at  Omaha  in  October,  1898,  is  here 
modified  by  the  omission  of  a  few  passages  which  were  used  also 
on  the  previous  occasion.  The  third  address,  "  A  Blind  Man's 
Holiday,"  was  read  on  February  I4th,  1899,  before  the  Gradu- 
ate Club  of  Leland  Stanford  Junior  University,  and  afterwards 
repeated  before  the  congregation  of  Temple  Emanu-El  in  San 
Francisco  and  the  Berkeley  Club  in  Oakland.  It  was  reprinted 
for  general  circulation  under  the  title  of  "  The  Question  of  the 
Philippines,"  by  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  John  J.  Valentine,  who  has 
also  published  a  similar  edition  of  "  Lest  We  Forget."  The 
essay  on  the  "  Colonial  Lessons  of  Alaska  "  was  delivered  be- 
fore the  University  Extension  Club  of  San  Jose ;  that  on  the 
"  Lessons  of  the  Paris  Tribunal,"  before  the  Congregationalist 
Club  in  San  Francisco.  The  essay  on  "  A  Continuing  City  " 
was  delivered  before  the  New  Charter  Association  of  San  Fran- 
cisco. 

The  essay  on  the  "  Last  of  the  Puritans  "  is  introduced  to  show 
the  substantial  identity  of  the  arguments  for  slavery  or  control 
vii 


Vlii  PREFATORY   NOTE. 

of  man  by  man,  benevolent  or  otherwise,  with  those  for  im- 
perial dominion  or  the  control  of  nation  by  nation,  of  race  by 
race,  each  has  industrial  and  civil  good  for  its  avowed  purpose, 
and  each  has  brute  force  for  its  method. 

I  am  indebted  to  Mr  Walter  H.  Page,  editor  of  the  Atlantic 
Monthly,  for  permission  to  reprint  "  The  Colonial  Lessons  of 
Alaska,"  to  Dr.  N.  C.  Gilman,  editor  of  the  New  World,  for  the 
privilege  of  republishing  the  essay  on  "  Colonial  Expansion," 
to  Whitaker  and  Ray  of  San  Francisco  for  permission  to  use 
-  The  Last  of  the  Puritans,"  and  to  Mr.  J.  M.  Rice,  editor  of  the 
Forum,  for  permission  to  reprint  "The  Lessons  of  the  Paris 
Tribunal  of  Arbitration.* 

DAVID  STARR  JORDAN, 
Leland  Stanford  Junior  University,  Palo  Alto, 
Santa  Clara  Co.,  California, 


CONTENTS. 

1.  Lest  We  Forget I 

2.  Colonial  Expansion 39 

3.  A  Blind  Man's  Holiday 61 

4.  The  Colonial  Lessons  of  Alaska 181 

5.  The  Lessons  of  the  Paris  Tribunal  of  Arbitration 215 

6.  A  Continuing  City 241 

7.  The  Captain  Sleeps 265 

8.  The  Last  of  the  Puritans 275 

IX 


I. 

"LEST  WE   FORGET." 


IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY; 


i. 

"LEST  WE  FORGET."* 


As  educated  men  and  women,  in  your  hands  lies  the 
future  of  the  State.  It  is  for  you  and  such  as  you  to 
work  out  the  problems  of  democracy.  This  is  my  justi- 
fication in  speaking  to  you  of  the  present  crisis.  For 
a  great  world  crisis  is  on  us,  and  this  year  of  1898  may 
mark  one  of  the  three  great  epochs  in  our  history. 

Twice  before  in  our  national  life  have  we  stood  in  the 
presence  of  a  great  crisis.  Twice  before  have  we  come 
to  the  parting  of  the  ways,  and  twice  has  our  choice  been 
controlled  by  wise  counsel. 

The  first  crisis  followed  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 
Its  question  was  this  :  What  relation  shall  the  emanci- 
pated colonies  bear  to  one  another?  The  answer  was 
the  American  Constitution,  the  federation  of  self-govern- 
ing and  United  States. 

*"  An  address  to  the  Members  of  the  Graduating  Class  of  1898. 
in  Leland  Stanford  Junior  University ;  delivered  May  25,  1898, 

3 


4  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

The  second  crisis  came  through  the  growth  of  slavery. 
The  union  of  the  States  "  could  not  endure,  half  slave, 
half  free."  The  emancipation  proclamation  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  marked  our  decision  that  the  Union  should 
endure ;  and-  that  all  that  made  for  division  should  be 
;  swept  3\fe&yJ  ' c  • 

The  •  t.hir<£  gretft  crisis  is  on  us  now.  The  war  with 
Spain  is  only'  a '  part'  of  it.  The  question  is  not :  Can 
we  capture  Manila,  Havana,  Porto  Rico  or  the  Canaries? 
It  is  not  what  we  can  take  or  what  we  can  hold.  The 
American  navy  and  the  American  army  can  accomplish 
all  we  ask  of  them  with  time  and  patience. 

Battles  are  fought  to-day  through  engineering  and 
technical  skill,  not  through  physical  dash.  The  great 
cannon  speaks  the  language  of  science,  and  individual 
courage  is  helpless  before  it.  The  standing  of  our  naval 
officers  in  matters  of  engineering  is  beyond  question. 
There  are  a  hundred  nameless  lieutenants  in  our  war- 
ships who,  if  opportunity  offered,  could  write  their  names 
beside  those  of  Grenville  and  Nelson  and  Farragut  and 
Dewey.  The  glory  of  Manila  is  not  dim  beside  that  of 
Mobile  or  Trafalgar.  The  cool  strength  and  soberness 
of  Yankee  courage,  added  to  the  power  of  naval  en- 
gineering, could  meet  any  foe  on  earth  on  equal  terms, 
and  here  the  terms  are  not  equal.  Personal  fearlessness 
our  adversaries  possess,  and  that  is  all  they  have.  That 
we  have,  too,  in  like  measure.  Everything  else  is  ours. 
We  train  our  guns  against  the  empty  shell  of  a  medi- 
aeval monarchy,  broken,  distracted,  corrupt. 

The  war  with  Spain  marks  in  itself  no  crisis.  The 
end  is  seen  from  the  beginning.  It  was  known  to  Spain 
as  clearly  as  to  us.  But  her  government  had  no  re- 


"  LEST  WE   FORGET."  5 

course.  They  had  come  to  the  end  of  diplomacy,  and 
could  only  die  fighting.  "  To  die  game  "  is  an  old  habit 
of  the  Spaniard.  "  Whatever  else  the  war  may  do," 
says  the  Spanish  diplomat,  with  pathetic  honesty,  "it 
can  only  bring  ruin  to  Spain." 

It  is  too  late  for  us  now  to  ask  how  we  got  into  the 
war.  Was  it  inevitable  ?  Was  it  wise  ?  \Vas  it  right- 
eous? We  need  not  ask  these  questions,  because  the 
answers  will  not  help  us.  We  may  have  our  doubts  as 
to  one  or  all  of  these,  but  all  doubts  we  must  keep  to 
ourselves.  We  are  in  the  midst  of  battle,  and  must  fight 
to  the  end.  The  "rough-riders"  are  in  the  saddle. 
"  What  though  the  soldier  knew  some  one  had  blun- 
dered ?  "  The  swifter,  fiercer,  more  glorious  our  attacks, 
the  sooner  and  more  lasting  our  peace.  There  is  no 
possible  justification  for  the  war  unless  we  are  strong 
enough  and  swift  enough  to  bring  it  to  a  speedy  end. 
If  America  is  to  be  the  knight-errant  of  the  nations  she 
must  be  pure  of  heart  and  swift  of  foot,  every  inch  a 
knight. 

The  crisis  comes  when  the  war  is  over.  What  then? 
Our  question  is  not  what  we  shall  do  with  Cuba,  Porto 
Rico  and  the  Philippines.  It  is  what  these  prizes  will 
do  to  us.  Can  we  let  go  of  them  in  honor  or  in  safety? 
if  not,  what  if  we  hold  them  ?  What  will  be  the  reflex 
effect  of  great  victories,  suddenly  realized  strength,  the 
patronizing  applause,  the  ill-concealed  envy  of  great 
nations,  the  conquest  of  strange  territories,  the  raising 
of  our  flag  beyond  the  seas?  All  this  is  new  to  us.  It 
is  un-American;  it  is  contrary  to  our  traditions;  it  is 
delicious  ;  it  is  intoxicating. 

For  this  is  the  fact  before  us.     We  have  come  to  our 


6  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

manhood  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  What  shall 
we  do  about  it?  The  war  once  finished,  shall  we  go 
back  to  our  farms  and  factories,  to  our  squabbles  over 
tariffs  and  coinage,  our  petty  trading  in  peanuts  and 
postoffices?  Or  shall  our  country  turn  away  from  these 
things  and  stand  forth  once  for  all  a  great  naval  power, 
our  vessels  in  every  sea,  our  influence  felt  over  all  the 
earth?  Shall  we  be  the  plain  United  States  again,  or 
shall  we  be  another  England,  fearless  even  of  our  own 
great  mother,  second  to  her  only  in  age  and  pres- 
tige? 

The  minor  results  of  war  are  matters  of  little  moment 
in  comparison.  Let  us  look  at  a  few  of  them  as  we  pass. 
Most  of  them  are  not  results  at  all.  The  glow  of  battle 
simply  shows  old  facts  in  new  relation. 

The  war  has  stirred  the  fires  of  patriotism,  we  say. 
Certainly,  but  they  were  already  there,  else  they  could 
not  be  stirred.  I  doubt  if  there  is  more  love  of  country 
with  us  to-day  than  there  was  a  year  ago.  Real  love  of 
country  is  not  easily  moved.  Its  guarantee  is  its  per- 
manence. Love  of  adventure,  love  of  fight,  these  are 
soon  kindled.  It  is  these  to  which  the  battle  spirit  ap- 
peals. Love  of  adventure  we  may  not  despise.  It  is 
the  precious  heritage  of  new  races ;  it  is  the  basis  of 
personal  courage ;  but  it  is  not  patriotism ;  it  is  push. 
Love  of  fight  is  not  in  itself  unworthy.  The  race  which 
cannot  fight  if  need  be,  is  a  puny  folk  destined  to  be  the 
prey  of  tyrants.  But  one  who  fights  for  fight's  sake  is  a 
bully,  not  a  hero.  The  bully  is  at  heart  a  coward.  To 
fight  only  when  we  are  sure  of  the  result,  is  no  proof 
of  national  courage. 

Patriotism  is  the  will  to  serve  one's  country ;  to  make 


"  LEST  WE   FORGET.  7 

one's  country  better  worth  serving.  It  is  a  course  of 
action  rather  than  a  sentiment.  It  is  serious  rather  than 
stirring.  The  shrilling  of  the  mob  is  not  patriotism.  It 
is  not  patriotism  to  trample  on  the  Spanish  flag,  to  burn 
fire-crackers,  or  to  twist  the  Lion's  tail.  The  shrieking 
of  war  editors  is  not  patriotism.  Nowadays,  nations 
buy  newspapers  as  they  buy  ships.  Whatever  is  noisy, 
whether  in  Congress  or  the  pulpit,  or  on  the  streets, 
cannot  be  patriotism.  It  is  not  in  the  galleries  that  we 
find  brave  men.  "  Patriotism,"  says  Dr.  Johnson,  "  is 
the  last  refuge  of  the  scoundrel."  But  he  was  speaking 
of  counterfeit  patriotism.  There  could  not  be  a  coun- 
terfeit were  there  not  also  a  reality. 

But  this  I  see  as  I  watch  the  situation :  True  patri- 
otism declines  as  the  war  spirit  rises.  Men  say  they 
have  no  interest  in  reform  until  the  war  is  over.  There 
is  no  use  of  talking  of  better  financial  methods,  of  fairer 
adjustment  of  taxes,  of  wiser  administration  of  affairs, 
until  the  war  fever  has  passed  by.  The  patriotism  of  the 
hour  looks  to  a  fight  with  some  other  nation,  not  towards 
greater  pride  in  our  own. 

The  war  has  united  at  last  the  North  and  the  South, 
we  say.  So  at  least  it  appears.  When  Fitzhugh  Lee  is 
called  a  Yankee,  and  all  the  haughty  Lees  seem  proud 
of  the  designation,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  old  lines  of 
division  exist  no  longer.  North  and  South,  East  and 
West,  whatever  our  blood,  birth  or  rank,  we  Yankees 
stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  1898.  But  our  present 
solidarity  shows  that  the  nation  was  sound  already,  else 
a  month  could  not  have  welded  it  together. 

It  is  twenty-eight  years  ago  to-day  that  a  rebel  soldier 
who  says — 


8  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

"  I  am  a  Southerner, 
I  loved  the  South  and  dared  for  her 
To  fight  from  Lookout  to  the  sea 
With  her  proud  banner  over  me." 

stood  before  the  ranks  of  the  Grand  Army  and  spoke 
these  words : 

"  I  stand  and  say  that  you  were  right ; 

I  greet  you  with  uncovered  head, 
Remembering  many  a  thundrous  fight, 

When  whistling  death  between  us  sped ; 
I  clasp  the  hand  that  made  my  scars, 

I  cheer  the  flag  my  foemen  bore, 
I  shout  for  joy  to  see  the  stars 

All  on  our  common  shield  once  more." 

This  was  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  and 
all  this  time  the  great  loyal  South  has  patiently  and 
unflinchingly  accepted  war's  terrible  results.  It  is  not 
strange,  then,  that  she  shows  her  loyalty  to-day.  The 
"  Solid  South,"  the  bugaboo  of  politicians,  the  cloak  of 
Northern  venality,  has  passed  away  forever.  The  warm 
response  to  American  courage,  in  whatever  section  or 
party,  in  whatever  trade  or  profession,  shows  that  with 
all  our  surface  divisions,  we  of  America  are  one  in  heart. 
The  impartial  bitterness  of  Spanish  hatred  directed  to- 
ward all  classes  and  conditions  of  Anglo-Saxons  alike 
emphasizes  the  real  unity  of  race  and  nation. 

There  are  some  who  justify  war  for  war's  sake. 
Blood-letting  "  relieves  the  pressure  on  the  boundaries." 
It  whets  courage.  It  keeps  the  ape  and  tiger  alive  in 
men.  All  this  is  detestable.  To  waste  good  blood  is 
pure  murder,  if  nothing  is  gained  by  it.  To  let  blood 
for  blood's  sake  is  bad  in  politics  as  it  is  in  medicine. 


War  is  killing,  brutal,  barbarous  killing,  and  its  direct 
effects  are  mostly  evil.  The  glory  of  war  turns  our 
attention  from  civic  affairs.  Neglect  invites  corruption. 
Noble  and  necessary  as  was  our  Civil  War,  we  have  not 
yet  recovered  from  its  degrading  influences.  Too  often 
the  courage  of  brave  men  is  an  excuse  for  the  depreda- 
tions of  venal  politicians.  The  glorious  banner  of  free- 
dom becomes  the  cover  for  the  sutler's  tent. 

The  test  of  civilization  is  the  substitution  of  law  for 
war ;  statutes  for  brute  strength.  No  doubt  diplomacy, 
as  one  of  our  Senators  has  said,  is  mostly  "a  pack  of 
lies,"  and  arbitration,  as  we  have  known  it,  is  com- 
pulsory and  arbitrary  compromise.  But  in  the  long  run 
truth  will  out,  even  in  diplomacy.  The  nations  who 
suffer  through  clumsy  and  blundering  tribunals  of  arbi- 
tration will  learn  from  this  experience.  They  will  find 
means,  at  last,  to  secure  justice  as  well  as  peace.  As 
private  war  gave  way  to  security  under  national  law,  so 
must  public  war  give  way  to  the  law  of  civilization. 

I  hear  men  say  to-day  that  war  is  necessary  to  the 
Republic  because  we  need  new  heroes  for  our  worship. 
The  old  heroes  are  getting  stale.  Those  of  the  Revolu- 
tion are  half  mythical.  Washington  and  Greene  were 
never  actually  alive  in  real  flesh  and  blood.  Even  Grant 
and  Sherman,  Lee  and  Jackson,  Thomas  and  Farragut 
are  names  only  to  most  of  us.  Our  fathers  knew  them, 
but  theirs  are  not  names  to  conjure  with  to-day.  The 
name  of  Dewey  fills  a  popular  want.  The  heroes  of  the 
newspaper  in  times  of  peace  are  mere  tinsel  heroes. 
Here  is  one  with  flesh  and  blood  in  him,  a  man  of  nerve 
and  courage  and  success. 

All  this  is  true,  but  our  heroes  were  with  us  already. 


10  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

In  times  of  peace  they  were  ready  for  heroism.  The 
real  hero  is  the  man  who  does  hiy  duty.  It  does  not 
matter  whether  his  name  be  on  the  headlines  of  the 
newspapers  or  not.  His  greatness  is  not  enhanced  when 
a  street  or  a  trotting  horse  is  named  for  him.  It  is  the 
business  of  the  Republic  to  make  a  nation  of  heroes. 
The  making  of  brave  soldiers  is  only  a  part  of  the  work 
of  making  men.  The  glare  of  battle  shows  men  in  false 
perspective.  To  one  who  stands  in  its  light  we  give  the 
glory  of  a  thousand.  But  we  may  applaud  with  the  rest 
as  the  great  captains  pass  before  us.  They  have  earned 
their  renown,  yet  when  "  the  tumult  and  the  shouting 
dies,"  still  the  crisis  remains.  What  effect  must  the 
war  have  on  us  ? 

Our  line  of  action  seems  a  narrow  one.  Our  policy 
has  been  fully  declared.  Our  armies  invade  Cuba  to 
put  an  end  to  disorder,  brutality  and  murderous  wrong. 
In  the  words  of  the  resolution  of.  Congress : 

"  The  abhorrent  conditions  which  have  existed  for  more  than 
three  years  in  the  island  of  Cuba,  so  near  our  own  borders,  have 
shocked  the  moral  sense  of  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
have  been  a  disgrace  to  Christian  civilization,  and  cannot  longer 
be  endured." 

And  in  recording  the  necessity  which  forces  us  to  act 
we  disclaim  all  selfish  intentions.  Thus  Congress  used 
these  words  which  are  already  part  of  the  record  of  his- 
tory and  which  we  may  not  forget : 

"  The  United  States  hereby  disclaims  any  disposition  or  inten- 
tion to  exercise  sovereignty,  jurisdiction  or  control  over  said 
islands  except  for  the  pacification  thereof,  and  asserts  its  deter- 
mination when  that  is  accomplished  to  leave  the  government  and 
control  of  the  island  to  its  people." 


"LEST  WE   FORGET."  II 

The  wrongs  we  mmld  avenge  are  not  new  to  Spain. 
By  such  cruelties  sn'e  has  always  held  her  possessions. 
By  such  means  she  has  lost  most  of  them.  Flanders, 
Mexico,  Peru,  Venezuela,  Chili,  Cuba,  all  tell  the  same 
story.  Spain  still  belongs  to  the  seventeenth  century. 
From  the  seventeenth  century  Cuba  has  escaped.  To 
her  we  shall  bring  order  and  relief.  Her  shackles  once 
broken,  then  we  shall  stay  our  hand.  To  Cuba  Libre, 
independent  and  free,  we  will  leave  the  choice  of  her 
own  future. 

But  this  is  easier  said  than  done.  Cuba  Libre  has  no 
heart  or  will  to  choose.  Her  present  nominal  govern- 
ment is  not  that  of  a  republic.  It  is  a  political  oligarchy, 
which  has  its  seat  not  in  Havana,  but  in  New  York. 
Cuba  is  helpless  now.  As  a  republic  she  will  be  helpless 
still.  Spanish  blood  and  Spanish  training  ill  prepare  a 
land  for  freedom.  Freedom  such  as  we  know  it  has 
never  yet  been  won  by  people  of  Latin-  blood.  The  free- 
dom of  Spanish  America  is  for  the  most  part  military 
despotism.  It  is  said  of  the  government  of  Russia  that 
it  is  "  despotism  tempered  by  assassination."  That  of 
most  of  our  sister  republics  is  assassination  tempered  by 
despotism.  Mexico,  the  best  of  them,  is  not  a  republic ; 
it  is  a  despotism,  the  splendid  tyranny  of  a  man  strong 
and  wise,  who  knows  Mexico  and  how  to  govern  her,  a 
humane  and  beneficent  tyrant. 

There  are  many  noble  men  in  Cuba,  men  of  education 
and  character,  with  the  culture  and  bearing  of  gentlemen. 
Some  of  these  I  know,  and  one  I  have  been  proud  to  call 
my  friend,  Felipe  Poey,  during  fifty  years  professor  in  the 
University  of  Havana.  Most  good  men  in  Cuba  hope 
for  the  success  of  the  insurgents,  but  they  have  not  much 


12  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

confidence  in  Cuban  democracy.  The  common  run  of 
the  Cuban  population  is  of  a  very  different  class. 

"The  Cuban  soldiers  at  Tampa,"  says  John  R. 
Rathom,  "are  very  small,  excitable,  erratic,  physically 
unfit.  They  go  about  the  camps  brandishing  their 
machetes  and  telling  our  infantrymen  who  tower  above 
them  like  giants,  how  they  are  going  to  cut  the  Span- 
iards to  pieces.  Their  whole  spirit  is  one  of  frothy 
boasting." 

There  are  three  things  inseparable  from  the  life  of 
the  Cuban  people  to-day,  the  cigarette,  the  lottery  ticket, 
and  the  machete.  These  stand  for  vice,  superstition  and 
revenge.  Above  these  the  thoughts  of  the  common  man 
in  Cuba  seldom  rise.  Most  of  the  people  cannot  read, 
and  those  who  can,  read  largely  the  literature  of  vice. 

From  my  own  visit  to  Havana,  two  keen  recollections 
remain.  In  the  early  morning  the  markets  are  filled  by 
a  long  procession  of  loaded  burros  who  came  down  from 
the  mountain  side.  These  bring  everything  that  is  eat- 
able, with  the  rest  live  pigs  and  sheep.  Pigs  and  sheep 
alike  are  tied  in  pairs  and  hung  saddle-wise,  head  down- 
ward, from  the  backs  of  the  donkeys.  From  two  until 
four  in  the  morning  the  long  procession  comes  in,  the 
pigs  lustily  squealing,  the  sheep  helpless  and  dumb.  But 
nobody  cares  for  an  animal's  pain.  There  is  no  society 
for  prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals  in  Cuba.  There  are 
not  many  who  could  understand  even  the  purpose  of 
such  a  society.  In  Havana,  bull-fights  follow  the  church 
services,  not  fights  but  slaughter.  A  horse  lame  and 
blind  is  ripped  up  by  an  infuriated  bull,  who  in  turn  is 
done  to  death  by  the  stab  of  a  skilful  butcher. 

At  Christmas  time  all  interest  centers  in  the  lottery. 


"LEST  WE  FORGET."  1 31 

Everybody  buys  lottery  tickets.  Charms,  fortune-tellers, 
astrology  and  all  the  machinery  of  superstition  are 
brought  into  play  to  select  the  lucky  numbers.  How 
many  days  old  am  I  ?  How  many  days  old  is  my  Dolores  ? 
How  many  days  old  was  I  on  my  lucky  day  when  I  drew 
the  prize  last  year?  How  can  I  find  my  lucky  number? 
These  matters  are  talked  of  everywhere  on  the  streets, 
in  the  church,  in  the  wine  rooms,  in  the  theaters.  One 
hears  the  parrots  on  their  posts  at  the  gate  discussing 
the  very  same  questions.  The  birds  rattle  off  the  names 
and  numbers  as  glibly  as  their  masters,  and  with  as  high 
a  conception  of  the  possibilities  of  life. 

It  seems  probable  that  most  of  the  oppressed  people, 
crowded  from  their  homes  by  Weyler's  armies,  will  be 
dead  before  we  come  to  their  relief.  In  starving  out 
Havana  we  shall  doubtless  starve  them  first.  Those  who 
survive  may  become  our  bitterest  enemies  before  the  year 
is  out.  For  these  people  prefer  the  indolence  of  Spanish 
rule  with  all  its  brutalities  to  the  bustling  ways  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon.  Many  of  them  would  take  their  chances 
of  being  starved  or  butchered  rather  than  to  build  roads, 
wash  their  faces,  and  clean  up  their  towns.  To  suppress 
the  lottery  and  the  cock-fight  would  be  to  rob  them  of 
most  that  makes  life  worth  living.  The  Puritan  Sabbath 
and  the  self-control  it  typifies  in  their  minds  would  be 
worse  than  the  flames  of  Purgatory.  Whether  as  a  free 
nation  under  our  protection  or  whether  governed  by  our 
martial  law,  it  will  be  no  easy  task  to  hold  the  peace  in 
Cuba  Libre.  The  down-trodden  Cuban  and  the  Spanish 
oppressor  are  the  same  in  blood,  the  same  in  method. 

But  we  may  say  that  American  enterprise  will  change 
all  this.  It  will  flow  into  Cuba  when  Cuba  is  free.  It 


14  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

will  clean  up  the  cities,  stamp  out  the  fevers,  build  roads 
where  the  trails  for  mule-sleds  are,  and  railroads  where 
the  current  of  traffic  goes.  It  will  make  the  pearl  of  the 
Antilles  the  fairest  island  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

No  doubt  all  this  will  come  if  we  give  a  stable  gov- 
ernment. Whatever  else  we  say  or  do  we  must  give  such 
a  government.  The  nations  of  the  world  will  hold  us 
responsible  for  Cuba  through  the  years  to  come.  A 
virtual  serfdom  under  American  martial  law  is  the  fate  of 
Cuba,  though  we  may  declare  her  free  and  independent. 

Why  then  shall  we  not  hold  Cuba,  if  she  becomes 
ours  by  right  of  conquest?  Because  that  would  be  a 
cowardly  thing  to  do.  The  justification  of  her  capture 
is  that  we  do  not  want  her.  If  we  want  Cuba,  common 
decency  says  that  we  must  let  her  alone.  Ours  is  a  war 
of  mercy,  not  of  conquest.  This  we  have  plainly  declared 
to  all  the  nations.  Perhaps  we  meant  what  we -said, 
though  the  speeches  in  Congress  do  not  make  this  clear. 
If  we  can  trust  the  records,  our  chief  motives  were  three  : 
Desire  for  political  capital,  desire  for  revenge,  and  sym- 
pathy for  humanity. 

It  was  desire  for  political  capital  that  forced  the  hand 
of  the  President.  "The  war,"  says  Dr.  Frank  Drew, 
did  not  begin  as  an  honorable  war.  If  it  is  to  become 
such,  it  must  be  made  honorable  by  other  men  than  those 
whose  votes  committed  us  to  it." 

If  we  retire  with  clean  hands,  it  will  be  because  our 
hands  are  empty.  To  keep  Cuba  or  the  Philippines 
would  be  to  follow  the  example  of  conquering  nations. 
Doubtless  England  would  do  it  in  our  place.  The  habit 
of  domination  makes  men  unscrupulous. 

Professor  Nicholson  of  Edinburgh  has  said:  "There 


"LEST  WE   FORGET."  15 

can  be  no  question,  in  the  light  of  history,  that  the  polit- 
ical instinct  of  the  English  people — or  to  adopt  the  pop- 
ular language  of  the  moment,  the  original  sin  of  the 
nation — is  to  covet  everything  of  its  neighbor's  worth 
coveting,  and  it  is  not  content  until  the  sin  is  complete." 
No  wonder  England  now  pats  us  on  the  back.  We  are 
following  her  lead.  We  are  giving  to  her  methods  the 
sanction  of  our  respectability.  Of  all  forms  of  flattery, 

imitation  is  the  sincerest. 

/ 

By  a  war  of  conquest  fifty  years  ago  we  took  from 
Mexico  her  fairest  provinces.  For  the  good  of  humanity 
we  did  it,  no  doubt,  and  along  the  lines  of  manifest  des- 
tiny. Brave  battles  our  soldiers  fought,  but  for  all  that, 
the  war  itself  was  most  inglorious.  So  it  reads  in  history 
as  we  write  it  to-day.  It  is  iniquitous  in  history  as  writ- 
ten in  Mexico. 

Shall  then  the  war  for  Cuba  Libre  come  to  an  inglori- 
ous end  ?  If  we  make  anything  by  it,  it  will  be  most  in- 
glorious. It  will  be  without  honor  if  its  two  millions  a 
day  are  made  good  by  conquered  territory.  Neither  for 
conquest  nor  for  revenge  have  we  sent  forth  the  army  of 
the  Republic.  "  Let  us  beware,"  says  J.  K.  H.  Burgwin, 
"  of  placing  ourselves  in  the  position  of  doing  a  noble  and 
generous  act  and  then  demanding  that  a  bankrupt  and 
humbled  enemy  shall  pay  our  expenses."  If  we  are  going 
to  hold  the  prizes  of  war  or  to  use  them  in  thrifty  trade 
we  should  never  have  set  out  on  the  errands  of  humanity. 

The  nations  of  Europe  look  with  jealousy  on  our  pos- 
sibilities of  strength.  "If  I  only,"  some  king  may  say — 
"  if  I  only  had  all  these  men,  all  this  land,  all  these 
resources,  I  would  eclipse  the  glory  of  Caesar,  of  Charle- 
magne, of  Napoleon."  If  we  turned  everything  into 


1 6  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

fighting,  what  a  fight  we  could  make.  But  we  have  gone 
about  our  business,  a  vast  nation  of  common  people,  care- 
less of  European  complications,  indifferent  to  European 
glory,  unconscious  of  our  power. 

For  the  end  of  government  by  the  people  is  to  fit  the 
people  to  control  their  own  affairs.  The  basis  of  our  gov- 
ernment is  the  town  meeting.  The  people  manage  their 
local  business,  and  send  their  wisest  men  as  delegates  to 
look  after  the  interests  of  the  nation.  This  was  the 
dream  of  the  fathers.  If  there  has  been  much  change  and 
some  degeneration,  yet  in  substance  the  thoughts  of  the 
fathers  prevail.  The  liberties  of  the  people  are  secure 
because  they  are  everywhere  in  the  people's  hands. 
America  is  not  a  power  among  the  nations.  She  is  a 
nation  among  the  powers.  A  "  power  "  is  a  country  which 
is  concerned  with  affairs  not  her  own  and  which  develops 
the  machinery  to  make  such  concern  effective.  A  nation 
minds  her  own  business. 

The  spirit  of  our  foreign  policy  has  been  to  avoid  all 
display  of  power.  It  was  set  forth  in  Washington's  fare- 
well address,  in  these  memorable  words  : 

"  The  great  rule  of  conduct  for  us  in  regard  to  foreign  nations  is, 
in  extending  our  commercial  relations,  to  have  with  them  as  little 
political  connection  as  possible.  *  *  *  Europe  has  a  set  of  primary 
interests  which  to  us  have  none  or  a  very  remote  relation.  Hence 
she  must  be  engaged  in  frequent  controversies  the  causes  of  which 
are  essentially  foreign  to  our  concerns.  Hence,  therefore,  it  must 
be  unwise  in  us  to  implicate  ourselves  by  artificial  ties  in  the  ordi- 
nary vicissitudes  of  her  politics  or  the  ordinary  combinations  and 
collisions  of  her  friendships  or  enmities.  Our  detached  and  dis- 
tant situation  invites  and  enables  us  to  pursue  a  different  course. 
*  *  *  Why  forego  the  advantages  of  so  peculiar  a  situation  ? 
Why  quit  our  own  to  stand  upon  foreign  ground  ?  Why,  by  inter- 
weaving our  destiny  with  that  of  any  part  of  Europe,  entangle  our 


"LEST  WE  FORGET."  I/ 

peace  and  prosperity  in  the  toils  of  European  ambition,  rivalship, 
interest,  humor,  or  caprice  ?  It  is  our  true  course  to  steer  clear 
of  permanent  alliances  with  any  portion  of  the  foreign  world." 

The  America  of  which  Washington  dreamed  should 
grow  strong  within  herself,  should  avoid  entangling  alli- 
ances with  foreign  nations,  should  keep  out  of  all  fights 
•  and  all  friendships  that  are  not  her  own,  should  secure 
no  territory  that  might  not  be  self-governing,  and  should 
acquire  no  provinces  that  might  not  in  time  be  numbered 
among  the  United  States.  To  this  policy  his  followers 
closely  adhered.  Even  gratitude  to  France  never  made 
us  her  catspaw  in  her  struggle  against  England.  No  out- 
flow of  sympathy  has  caused  us  to  interfere  in  behalf  of 
Ireland  or  Armenia  or  Greece. 

But  the  world  is  smaller  than  in  Washington's  day. 
Steam  and  electricity  have  bound  the  world  together. 
The  interests  of  one  nation  are  those  of  all  nations.  The 
interests  of  Armenia,  Cape  Colony  and  Ceylon  are  closer 
to  us  to-day  than  those  of  France  and  Germany  were  to 
our  fathers.  Traditions  are  worthy  of  respect  only  when 
they  serve  the  real  needs  of  the  present.  So  it  may  be 
that  with  changed  conditions  the  wise  counsel  of  the  past 
may  be  open  to  revision.  Are  times  not  already  ripe  for 
a  change  in  national  policy? 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the  policy  of  England. 
The  United  States  is  great  through  minding  her  own  busi- 
ness ;  England  through  minding  the  business  of  the  world. 
In  the  Norse  Mythology  the  Mitgard-Serpent  appears 
in  the  guise  of  a  cat,  an  animal  small  and  feeble,  but  in 
reality  the  mightiest  and  most  enduring  of  all,  for  its  tail 
goes  around  the  earth,  growing  down  its  own  throat,  and 
by  its  giant  force,  it  holds  the  world  together.  Eng- 


1 8  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

land  is  the  Mitgard-Serpent  of  the  nations,  shut  in  a 
petty  island;  as  Benjamin  Franklin  said,  "an  island 
which  compared  to  America  is  but  a  stepping  stone  in  a 
brook  with  scarce  enough  of  it  above  water  to  keep  one's 
shoes  dry."  Yet,  by  the  force  of  arms,  the  force  of  trade 
and  the  force  of  law  she  has  become  the  ruler  of  the 
earth.  It  is  English  brain  and  English  muscle  which  hold 
the  world  together. 

No  other  agency  of  civilization  has  been  so  potent  as 
England's  enlightened  selfishness.  Her  colonies  are  of 
three  orders — friendly  nations,  subject  nations  and  mili- 
tary posts.  The  larger  colonies  are  little  united  states. 
They  are  republics  and  rule  their  own  affairs.  The  sub- 
ject nations  and  the  military  posts  England  rules  by  a 
rod  of  iron,  because  no  other  rule  is  possible.  Every 
year  England  seizes  new  posts,  opens  new  ports  and 
widens  the  stretch  of  her  empire.  But  of  all  this  Greater 
Britain,  England  herself  is  but  a  little  part,  the  ruling 
head  of  a  world-wide  organism,  "What  does  he  know 
of  England  who  only  England  knows  ?  "  No  doubt  as 

Kipling  says,  England 

"  thinks  her  empire  still 
'Twixt  the  Strand  and  Holborn  Hill," 

but  the  Strand  would  be  half  empty  were  it  not  that  it 
leads  outward  to  Cathay.  The  huge  business  interests 
of  Greater  Britain  are  the  guarantee  of  her  solidarity. 
All  her  parts  must  hold  together. 

In  similar  relation  to  the  Mother  Country,  America 
must  stand.  Greater  England  holds  over  us  the  obliga- 
tions of  blood  and  thought  and  language  and  character. 
Only  the  Saxon  understands  the  Saxon.  Only  the  Saxon 
and  the  Goth  know  the  meaning  of  freedom.  "  A  sane- 


"  LEST  WE  FORGET."  19 

tion  like  that  of  religion,"  says  John  Hay,  "  enforces  our 
partnership  in  all  important  affairs."  Not  that  we  should 
enter  into  formal  alliance  with  Great  Britain.  We  can 
get  along  well  side  by  side,  but  never  tied  together. 
When  England  suggests  a  union  for  attack  and  defense, 
let  us  ask  what  she  expects  to  gain  from  us.  Never  yet 
did  England  offer  us  the  hand  in  open  friendliness,  in 
pure  good  faith,  not  hoping  to  get  the  best  of  the  bargain. 
This  is  the  English  government,  which  never  acts  with- 
out interested  motives.  But  the  English  people  are  our 
friends  in  every  real  crisis,  and  that  without  caring  over- 
much whether  we  be  right  or  not.  War  with  England 
should  be  forever  impossible.  The  need  of  the  common 
race  is  greater  than  the  need  of  the  nations.  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  must  be  at  peace  within  itself.  Nothing  is  so 
important  to  civilization  as  this.  A  war  between  Eng- 
land and  America  fought  to  the  bitter  end  might  sub- 
merge civilization.  When  the  war  should  be  over  and 
the  smoke  cleared  away  there  would  be  but  one  nation 
left,  and  that,  Russia. 

But  though  one  in  blood  with  England  our  course  of 
political  activities  has  not  lain  parallel  with  hers.  We 
were  estranged  in  the  beginning,  and  we  have  had  other 
affairs  on  our  hands.  We  have  turned  our  faces  west- 
ward, and  our  work  has  made  us  strong.  We  have  had 
our  forests  to  clear,  our  prairies  to  break,  our  rivers  to 
harness,  our  own  problem  of  slavery  to  adjust.  We  have 
followed  the  spirit  of  Washington's  address  for  a  hundred 
years,  until  the  movement  of  history  has  brought  us  to  the 
parting  of  the  ways.  Federalism  or  Imperialism — which 
shall  it  be? 

In  the  direction  of  imperialism  we  have  already  taken 


20  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

certain  steps.  The  promulgation  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
is  one  of  these.  Its  original  impulse  was  a  jealous  regard 
for  the  liberties  of  the  republics  of  Latin  America.  We 
made  no  objection  to  the  present  occupation  of  parts  of 
America  by  European  powers  but  we  shall  prevent  by 
force  any  extension  of  such  dominion.  The  cause  of  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  was  the  danger  to  republicanism 
through  monarchial  aggression.  With  the  republics  of 
America  our  interests  were  supposed  to  be  in  unison. 
But  our  real  interests  lie  now  in  other  directions.  We 
have  a  thousand  ties  binding  us  to  Europe  for  one  to  Latin 
America.  Even  Japan  and  China  are  more  to  us  than 
the  states  of  South  America.  Moreover,  the  republics  we 
would  guard  are  really  only  republics  in  name.  They 
have  no  more  of  a  republican  spirit  than  has  Italy  or 
Spain,  and  vastly  less  than  England  or  Germany.  The 
aggressions  of  England  on  Venezuela  which  our  strong 
protest  prevented  were  really  in  the  interest  of  civiliza- 
tion. These  republics  hate  the  United  States,  her  peo- 
ple and  her  institutions.  They  resent  our  protection  and 
repel  our  patronage,  and  as  for  us,  we  are  likely  to  de- 
spise them  rather  than  to  love  them.  The  guardian  of  the 
two  Americas  must  use  a  strong  hand  if  it  would  save  all 
of  its  wards  from  barbarism. 

So  the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  not  alone  a  willingness  to 
protect  our  sister  republics  from  European  aggression. 
It  must  become  a  means  of  holding  them  in  order.  So 
long  as  the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  put  forth,  so  long  must  we 
be  in  some  degree  surety  for  the  good  behavior  of  South 
America.  This  necessity  has  carried  us  away  from  our 
traditional  attention  to  our  own  affairs.  It  will  carry 
us  still  further  unless  the  policy  be  reversed. 


The  purchase  of  Alaska  marks  another 
away  from  self-government.  This  vast,  wild,  resourceful 
land,  unfit  for  habitation  for  the  most  part,  unfit  for  self- 
control,  we  have  made  a  province  of  our  republic.  We 
have  placed  it  under  our  flag,  but  the  flag  is  all  we  have 
given  it.  On  stretches  of  coast  as  long  as  that  of  Cali- 
fornia, dotted  with  fishing  villages,  the  United  States  has 
exercised  no  authority  whatever.  Over  the  whole  coast 
of  Alaska,  from  Sitka  to  Point  Barrow,  there  have  been 
only  scattering  and  sporadic  efforts  at  national  rule. 
With  a  population  so  weak  and  scattered,  self-govern- 
ment is  impossible,  and  we  have  no  other  form  of  govern- 
ment to  offer.  The  condition  of  Alaska  to-day  is  simply 
a  disgrace  to  us.  The  host  that  fare  to  the  Klondike 
make  their  own  government  as  they  go  along.  What 
little  government  Alaska  had  in  the  past  has  now  been 
mostly  withdrawn  on  account  of  the  war  with  Spain.  We 
need  the  patrol  vessels  for  coast  defense.  This  is  as 
though  we  sent  San  Francisco  police  to  garrison  Manila. 
In  public  affairs  we  can  never  attend  to  two  things  at  a 
time.  Considering  our  possibilities  and  our  intentions, 
we  have  treated  the  Aleutian  Islands  as  shabbily  as 
Spain  has  treated  Cuba,  and  Russia  has  almost  as  good 
a  right  to  protest  against  our  ways  as  we  have  to  protest 
against  those  of  Spain. 

This  difference  obtains.  The  natives  of  Alaska  are 
gentle  and  tractable  and  away  from  the  eyes  of  the  world. 
They  have  no  friends,  no  element  of  the  picturesque, 
and  our  cruelty  is  not  violence  but  neglect.  We  have 
wantonly  allowed  the  destruction  of  the  sea  otter,  their 
chief  means  of  subsistence.  We  have  wasted  the  sea-lion 
which  furnishes  their  boats.  Starvation  and  death  are 


22  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

everywhere  imminent  in  these  coast  settlements  of 
Alaska,  and  the  blame  for  it  rests  on  us.  "  Reconcen- 
trados  "  between  Arctic  snows  and  San  Francisco  greed, 
the  Aleuts  must  starve  and  freeze.  From  Prince  Wil- 
liam's Sound  to  Attu,  nearly  fifteen  hundred  miles,  not  a 
village  has  a  sure  means  of  support  left  to-day. 

According  to  latest  reports  from  Port  Etches,  all  the 
people  of  the  village  live  together  in  the  cellar  of  an 
abandoned  warehouse.  Wosnessenski  was  starving  last 
year.  In  Belkofski,  Morjovi,  Atka,  Attu,  and  a  half 
dozen  other  villages,  the  Company's  store  had  been 
closed  because  the  people  can  no  longer  pay  for  sup- 
plies. Civilization  has  made  flour,  sugar,  tea  and  to- 
bacco necessities  of  life,  and  these  they  can  get  no 
longer. 

As  our  government  is  constituted,  men  must  govern 
themselves  and  send  their  delegates  to  Congress.  For 
others  we  have  no  government  at  all.  The  great  cor- 
porations in  Alaska  are  still  squatters  on  government 
land,  and  the  disputes  among  their  employees  must  be 
settled  by  blow  of  fist,  or  they  are  not  settled  at  all. 
Open  warfare  with  knife  and  gun  has  existed  more  than 
once  along  the  salmon  rivers.  This  is  not  the  fault  of 
the  companies.  They  are  law-abiding  enough  when 
there  is  any  law.  "  But  there  runs  no  law  of  God  nor 
man  to  the  north  of  fifty- three."  The  villages  of  Aleuts 
and  Esquimaux  are  ruled  by  the  Company  storekeeper 
and  the  Russian  priest,  each  with  authority  unlimited 
and  unsupported  by  law.  The  stanch  laws  of  prohibi- 
tion by  which  liquor  is  excluded  from  Alaska  cannot  en- 
force themselves,  and  no  other  adequate  force  is  provided. 
The  whole  matter  is  a  huge  farce,  and  its  necessary 


"  LEST  WE  FORGET."  23 

result  is  contempt  for  law.  With  a  colonial  bureau  like 
that  of  England,  the  problems  of  ruling  an  inferior  and 
dependent  people  would  be  simple  enough.  Such  a 
bureau  could  take  care  of  Alaska  and  could  give  good 
government  to  any  territory  over  which  our  flag  may 
float. 

Such  a  bureau  we  must  have  if  Alaska  is  not  to  remain 
a  matter  of  public  embarrassment.  Such  a  bureau  could 
operate  Hawaii  as  well.  Hawaii  cannot  govern  itself 
under  our  federal  forms.  It  is  an  oligarchy  in  the  nature 
of  things.  Under  colonial  management  it  would  be 
peaceful  and  prosperous.  The  more  it  had  to  do,  the 
more  effective  such  a  colonial  bureau  would  become. 
Every  governmental  department  tends  to  aggrandize 
itself.  Colonies  would  demand  more  colonies.  If  we 
have  Alaska  already  and  are  certain  to  take  Hawaii,  why 
not  establish  such  a  colonial  bureau  and  manage  them 
as  England  manages  Hong  Kong  and  Singapore  and 
Jamaica?  In  the  same  way  we  may  control  Cuba,  which 
falls  as  a  ripe  pear  into  our  hands.  And  Porto  Rico 
must  go  with  Cuba.  The  Philippines  are  not  very  far 
away.  They  are  nearer  to  San  Francisco  than  Boston 
was  to  Philadelphia  in  the  times  of  Washington,  and  the 
transfer  of  news  is  a  matter  of  a  few  hours  only.  The 
Philippines  are  as  large  as  New  England  and  New  York, 
with  a  population  greater  than  all  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tain country  and  the  Pacific  Slope  combined.  They 
have  a  hard  population  to  manage,  to  be  sure,  a  sub- 
stratum of  Malays,  lazy  and  revengeful,  over  these  a 
social  layer  of  thrifty  Chinese  and  canny  Japanese,  then 
next  a  Spanish  aristocracy  and  a  surface  scum  of  the 
wanderers  of  all  the  world.  In  the  unexplored  interiors 
3 


24  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

of  the  great  islands  live  the  wild  tribes  of  negritos,  un- 
tamed black  imps,  as  incapable  of  self-government  or  of 
any  other  government  as  so  many  monkeys.  Spain  has 
stood  at  the  gateway  of  this  rich  land  and  taken  toll  of 
whatever  goes  out.  This  is  all  she  has  attempted.  We 
could  not  do  much  more,  but  whatever  is  possible  we 
can  do  as  well  as  any  one  else.  If  we  do  not  keep 
the  Philippines  they  will  surely  fall  into  worse  hands. 

And  all  these  territories  are  to-day  virtually  under  the 
American  flag.  But  why  stop  here?  One  great  need 
of  the  world's  commerce  is  a  canal  across  the  territory 
of  Nicaragua,  and  we  may  seize  that  turbulent  little 
republic  as  a  guarantee  for  the  security  and  neutrality  of 
the  canal.  Then  Costa  Rica  has  her  coffee  fields,  and 
there  is  a  wondrous  wealth  in  Guatemala.  In  the  Caro- 
line Islands  we  would  find  a  good  coaling  station.  We 
have  literary  interest  in  Samoa  at  least,  and  in  the  name 
of  the  Ladrones,  the  islands  of  the  great  thieves,  we 
ought  to  find  something  suggestive.  An  open  port  of 
our  own  on  the  coast  of  China  would  give  our  commerce 
its  proper  level  of  equality.  Perhaps  Swatow  would 
suffice  for  us  after  Russia,  and  Germany,  and  France, 
and  England  has  each  made  its  choice. 

Then  there  are  the  Blue  Canaries.  From  the  tall 
peak  of  Teneriffe  we  can  overlook  the  entrance  to  the 
Mediterranean  and  keep  our  watch  on  the  politics  of 
Europe.  As  England  is  the  assignee  of  bankrupt  Egypt, 
shall  we  not  seize  the  assets  of  bankrupt  Spain?  To  be 
sure  we  come  in  late  in  the  game  of  territorial  expansion. 
We  must  take  what  we  can  get,  and  we  cannot  get  much 
except  by  force.  Still  we  must  have  it.  For  all  this 
and  more,  according  to  Theodore  Roosevelt  and  a 


"  LEST   WE  FORGET.'*  2$ 

of  others,  is  our  "  manifest  destiny."  To  help  along 
"  manifest  destiny,"  is  the  purpose  of  the  war  with  Spain. 
The  spell  is  on  us,  and  it  is  the  more  irresistible  because 
it  came  unawares.  Recently  in  an  address  in  Boston, 
Richard  Olney,  one  of  the  wisest  of  our  public  men,  who 
checked  the  bold,  bad  British  Lion  by  a  bluff  as  big  as 
the  lion's  own  roar,  made  a  vigorous  plea  for  national 
expansion.  He  says : 

"  But  it  is  even  a  more  pitiful  ambition  for  such  a  country  to 
aim  to  seclude  itself  from  the  world  at  large,  and  to  live  a  life  as 
isolated  and  independent  as  if  it  were  the  only  country  on  the 
footstool.  A  nation  is  as  much  a  member  of  society  as  an  indi- 
vidual. *  *  *  Does  a  foreign  question  or  controversy  pre- 
sent itself,  appealing  however  forcibly  to  our  sympathies  or  sense 
of  right — what  happens  the  moment  it  is  suggested  that  the 
United  States  should  seriously  participate  in  its  settlement  ?  A 
shiver  runs  through  all  the  ranks  of  capital,  lest  the  uninterrupted 
course  of  money-making  be  interfered  with  ;  the  cry  of  '  Jingo  ! ' 
comes  up  in  various  quarters ;  advocates  of  peace  at  any  price 
make  themselves  heard  from  innumerable  pulpits  and  rostrums  ; 
while  practical  politicians  invoke  the  doctrine  of  the  Farewell 
Address  as  an  absolute  bar  to  all  positive  action,  The  upshot  is 
more  or  less  an  explosion  of  sympathy  or  antipathy  at  more  or 
less  public  meetings,  and,  if  the  case  is  a  very  strong  one,  a  more 
or  less  tardy  tender  by  the  Government  of  its  '  moral  support.' 
Is  that  a  creditable  part  for  a  great  nation  to  play  in  the  affairs 
of  the  world  ?  *  *  *  This  country  was  once  the  pioneer,  and 
is  now  the  millionaire.  It  behooves  it  to  recognize  the  changed 
conditions,  and  to  realize  its  great  place  among  the  power  of  the 
earth.  It  behooves  it  to  accept  the  commanding  position  be- 
longing to  it  with  all  its  advantages  on  the  one  hand,  and  ail  its 
burdens  on  the  other.  It  is  not  enough  for  it  to  vaunt  its  great- 
ness and  superiority,  and  call  upon  the  rest  of  the  world  to  ad- 
mire and  be  duly  impressed.  Posing  before  less  favored  peoples 
.  as  an  exemplar  of  the  superiority  of  American  institutions  may 
be  justified  and  may  have  its  uses ;  but  posing  alone  is  like  an- 
swering the  appeal  of  a  mendicant  by  bidding  him  admire  your 


26  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

own  sleekness,  your  own  fine  clothes  and  handsome  house,  and 
your  generally  comfortable  and  prosperous  condition.  He  possibly 
should  do  that  and  be  grateful  for  the  spectacle,  but  what  he  really 
asks  and  needs  is  a  helping  hand.  The  mission  of  this  country,  if 
it  has  one,  and  I  verily  believe  it  has,  is  not  merely  to  pose,  but  to 
act — and,  while  always  governing  itself  by  prudence  and  common 
sense  and  making  its  own  special  interests  the  first  and  para- 
mount objects  of  its  care,  to  forego  no  fitting  opportunity  to 
further  the  progress  of  civilization  practically  as  well  as  theoreti- 
cally by  timely  deeds  as  well  as  by  eloquent  words.  There  is 
such  a  thing  for  a  nation  as  a  '  splendid  isolation  ' — as  when,  for 
a  worthy  cause,  for  its  own  independence,  or  dignity,  or  vital  in- 
terests, it  unshrinkingly  opposes  itself  to  a  hostile  world.  But 
isolation  that  is  nothing  but  the  shirking  of  the  responsibility  of 
high  place  and  great  power  is  simply  ignominious." 

"  The  dqors  to  that  shining  destiny  are  open  wide,"  says  a 
late  writer  in  the  San  Francisco  Chronicle.  "  Shall  the  Nation 
pass  them  or  shall  it  shrink  back  into  itself  and  leave  to  other 
and  braver  hands  the  prizes  of  the  future.  To  broaden  out  in 
the  field  of  enterprise  and  acquisition  is  the  duty  of  the  Republic, 
to  strengthen  itself  whenever  it  safely  can,  to  do  its  part  in  re- 
deeming the  victims  of  ignorance  as  well  as  of  cruelty,  to  gather 
to  itself  the  riches  that  will  free  it  from  debt,  and  make  its  in- 
fluence paramount  in  the  world's  affairs  as  the  greatest  part  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  brotherhood ;  to  plant  itself  in  the  midst  of 
events,  and  mold  them  to  its  mighty  purpose." 

Such  is  the  dream  of  American  imperialism.  Its 
prizes  lie  in  our  hands  unasked.  The  fates  have  forced 
them  upon  us.  But  before  we  seize  them,  now  let  us 
ask  what  it  will  cost?  First,  it  will  cost  life  and  money 
in  rich  measure.  Kipling  tells  us  the  cost  of  British 
Admiralty : 

"  We  have  fed  our  sea  for  a  thousand  years, 

And  she  calls  us  still  unfed, 
Though  there's  never  a  wave  of  all  her  waves 
But  marks  our  English  dead. 


27 

We've  strewed  our  best  to  the  weeds'  unrest, 
To  the  shark  and  the  sheering  gull ; 

If  blood  be  the  price  of  admiralty 
Lord  God !  we  have  paid-in  full." 

If  we  have  a  navy  that  can  make  history  we  must  pay 
for  it  as  England  does,  not  only  in  blood  but  in  cold, 
hard  cash.  This  means  more  taxes,  heavy  taxes,  more 
expenditures,  more  waste.  It  means  the  revision  of  our 
tax  laws,  a  tariff  for  revenue  only  with  every  element  of 
protection  for  American  industries  squeezed  out  of  it. 
The  government  will  need  all  it  can  get.  We  must 
manage  our  colonies  that  they  may  yield  revenue.  We 
must  cherish  commerce  as  we  have  tried  to  cherish 
manufacture,  and  we  must  cherish  manufacture  and 
agriculture  through  commerce.  Much  more  of  a  navy 
we  need  to  preserve  ourselves  from  imbecility.  One 
victory  like  that  of  Manila  may  save  us  from  a  dozen 
insults,  and  we  must  have  the  means  to  win  such  victories. 

So  far  this  would  not  be  unmixed  evil,  perhaps  no 
evil  at  all.  But  we  must  go  farther.  Imperialism  de- 
mands the  maintenance  of  a  standing  army  large  enough 
to  carry  out  whatever  we  undertake.  We  must  wholly 
change  our  pension  laws  and  deal  with  the  veteran  on  a 
basis  of  business,  not  of  sentiment.  Imperialism  leaves 
no  place  for  sentiment  in  public  affairs.  To  maintain 
strong  armies  the  nations  of  continental  Europe  sacrifice 
everything  else.  The  people  are  loaded  with  armor  till 
they  cannot  rise,  and  they  dare  not  throw  it  off.  Even 
to-day  Italy  is  on  the  verge  of  a  revolution,  and  the  cause 
is  the  cost  of  the  army.  The  Italian  proverb  says  that 
if  one  throws  a  stone  from  a  window  it  will  hit  a  soldier 
or  a  priest,  and  the  farmer  pays  for  both. 


28  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

The  whole  world  must  become  the  range  of  our  in- 
terest. We  must  make  every  American's  house  his 
castle  from  Kamchatka  to  Kerguelen.  We  must  be 
quick  to  revenge  and  strong  to  bluff.  We  must  never 
fight  when  the  issue  is  doubtful,  and  never  fail  to  fight 
if  there  is  a  point  to  be  gained.  We  must  give  up  our 
foolish  notions  that  America  is  big  enough  to  maintain  a 
separate  basis  of  coinage,  a  freeman's  scale  of  wages,  a 
peculiar  republican  social  order  different  from  that  of 
the  rest  of  mankind.  We  must  open  our  own  doors  as 
we  would  push  open  the  doors  of  the  world.  We  must 
change  the  character  of  our  diplomacy.  We  must  make 
statecraft  a  profession.  Hitherto  we  have  sent  out  our 
ambassadors  because  to  do  so  is  the  fashion  among  na- 
tions, not  becauge__we  frave  anything  for_JJTPrn  to  do. 

Hereafter  they  must  go  out  to  spread  American  influ- 

^^___ * — ~ & — —  r — - — • — 

ences.  The  plain,  blunt,  effective  truth-telling  of  our 
present  diplomacy  must  give  way  to  the  power  to  carry 
our  point.  We  must  not  send  men  to  foreign  countries 
because  we  do  not  want  them  at  home.  The  dull  in- 
competence of  our  consular  service  must  give  way  to  a 
system  of  trained  agents.  And  this,  too,  has  its  com- 
pensating reactions.  As  our  foreign  service  is  made 
efffective  it  will  become  dignified.  This  will  help  our 
relations  abroad  because  foreign  nations  judge  us  by  the 
quality  of  our  representatives. 

Our  government  must  be  changed  for  our  changing 
needs.  We  must  give  up  the  checks  and  balances  in 
our  constitution.  It  is  said  that  our  great  battleship 
Oregon  can  turn  about  end  for  end  within  her  own 
length.  The  dominant  nation  must  have  the  same 
power.  She  must  be  capable  of  reversing  her  action  in 


"  LEST   WE   FORGET."  2Q 

a  minute,  of  turning  around  within  her  own  length. 
This  "  our  prate  of  statute  and  of  state  "  makes  impos- 
sible. We  shall  receive  many  hard  knocks  before  we 
reach  this  condition,  but  we  must  reach  it  if  we  are  to 
"work  mightily"  in  the  affairs  of  the  world.  If  we  are 
to  deal  with  crises  in  foreign  affairs  we  must  hold  them 
with  a  steadier  grasp  than  that  with  which  we  have  held 
the  Cuban  question.  We  cannot  move  accurately  and 
quickly  under  the  joint  leadership  of  a  conservative  and 
steady-headed  President,  a  hysterical  or  venal  Senate, 
and  a  House  intent  upon  its  own  re-election.  That 
kind  of  checks  and  balances  we  must  lay  aside  forever. 
As  matters  are  now,  President,  Senate  and  House  check 
each  other's  movements  and  the  State  falls  over  its  own 
feet. 

The  government  of  the  United  States  is  the  expres- 
sion of  the  transient  will  of  the  people,  so  hemmed  in  by 
checks  and  balances  that  positive  action  is  difficult  what- 
ever the  will  of  the  majority  for  the  moment  may  be. 
This  is  the  government  for  peace  and  self-defense,  but 
not  for  aggression.  The  government  of  England  expresses 
the  permanent  will  of  the  intelligent  people  with  such 
checks  as  shut  out  ignorance  and  control  incompetence. 
The  nation  and  not  the  individual  man  is  the  unit  in  its 
actions. 

Towards  the  English  system  we  must  approach  more 
and  more  closely  if  we  are  to  deal  with  foreign  affairs  in 
large  fashion.  The  town-meeting  idea  must  give  way  to 
centralization  of  power.  We  must  look  away  from  our 
own  affairs,  neglect  them  if  you  please,  until  the  pres- 
sure of  growing  expenditure  forces  us  to  attend  to  them 
again,  and  to  attend  to  them  more  carefully  than  we  ever 


30  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

yet  have  done.  Good  government  at  home  must  pre- 
cede good  government  of  dependencies.  One  reason 
England  is  governed  well  is  that  misgovernment  any- 
where on  any  large  scale  would  be  fatal  to  her  credit 
and  fatal  to  her  power.  She  must  call  her  best  men  to 
her  political  service,  because  without  them  she  would 
perish. 

It  may  be  that  the  choice  of  imperialism  is  already 
made.  If  so,  we  shall  learn  the  lesson  of  dominion  in 
the  hardest  school  of  experience.  That  we  shall  ulti- 
mately learn  it  I  have  no  doubt,  for  ours  is  a  nation  of 
apt  scholars.  We  shall  hold  our  own  in  war  and  diplo- 
macy, we  shall  tie  the  hands  of  turbulent  nations  and 
seize  the  assets  of  bankrupt  ones,  and  we  shall  teach  the 
art  of  money-making  to  the  dependent  nations  who  shall 
be  our  wards  and  slaves. 

Some  great  changes  in  our  system  are  inevitable,  and 
belong  to  the  course  of  natural  progress.  Against  them 
I  have  nothing  to  say.  Whatever  our  part  in  the  affairs 
of  the  world  we  should  play  it  manfully.  But  with  all 
this  I  believe  that  the  movement  toward  broad  dominion 
so  eloquently  outlined  by  Mr.  Olney,  would  be  a  step 
downward.  It  would  be  to  turn  from  our  highest  pur- 
poses to  drift  with  the  current  of  manifest  destiny.  It 
would  be  not  to  do  the  work  of  America,  but  to  follow 
the  ways  of  the  rest  of  the  world.  I  make  no  plea  for 
indifference  or  self-sufficiency  or  isolation  for  isola- 
tion's sake.  To  shrink  from  world  movements  or  to 
drift  with  the  current  is  alike  unworthy  of  our  origin  and 
destiny.  Only  this  I  urge ;  let  our  choice  be  made  with 
open  eyes,  not  at  the  dictates  of  chance  disguised  as 
"Manifest  Destiny."  Unforgetting,  counting  all  the 


"LEST  WE  FORGET."  31 

cost,  let  us  make  our  decision.  Let  ours  be  sober, 
fearless,  prayerful  choice.  The  federal  republic — the 
imperial  republic — which  shall  it  be  ? 

There  are  three  main  reasons  for  opposing  every  step 
toward  imperialism.  First,  dominion  is  brute  force ; 
second,  dependent  nations  are  slave  nations ;  third,  the 
making  of  men  is  greater  than  the  building  of  empires. 

As  to  the  first  of  these  :  The  extension  of  dominion 
rests  on  the  strength  of  arms.  Men  who  cannot  hold 
town  meetings  must  obey  through  brute  force.  In 
Alaska,  for  example,  our  occupation  is  a  farce  and  scan- 
dal. Only  force  can  make  it  otherwise.  Only  by  force 
can  the  masses  of  Hawaii  or  Cuba  be  held  to  industry 
and  order.  To  furnish  such  power,  we  shall  need  a 
colonial  bureau,  with  its  force  of  extra-national  police. 
A  large  army  and  navy  must  justify  itself  by  doing  some- 
thing. Army  and  navy  we  must  maintain  for  our  own 
defense,  but  beyond  that  they  can  do  little  that  does 
not  hurt,  and  they  must  be  used  if  they  would  be  kept 
alive.  Even  warfare  for  humanity  falls  to  the  level  of 
other  wars,  and  all  wars  according  to  Benjamin  Franklin, 
are  bad,  some  worse  than  others.  The  rescue  of  the 
oppressed  is  only  accomplished  by  the  use  of  force 
against  the  oppressor.  The  lofty  purposes  of  humanity 
are  forgotten  in  the  joy  of  struggle  and  the  pride  of  con- 
quest. 

The  other  reasons  concern  the  integrity  of  the  Repub- 
lic itself.  This  was  the  lesson  of  slavery,  that  no  re- 
public can  "  endure  half  slave  and  half  free."  The  re- 
publics of  antiquity  fell  because  they  were  republics  of 
the  few  only,  for  each  citizen  rested  on  the  backs  of  nine 
slaves.  A  republic  cannot  be  an  oligarchy  as  well.  The 


32  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

slaves  destroy  the  republic.  Wherever  we  have  inferior 
and  dependent  races  within  our  borders  to-day,  we  have 
a  political  problem — "  the  Negro  problem,"  "  the  Chinese 
problem,"  "the  Indian  problem."  These  problems  we 
slowly  solve.  Industrial  training  and  industrial  pride 
make  a  man  of  the  Negro.  Industrial  interests  maiy 
even  make  a  man  of  the  Chinaman,  and  the  Indian  disap- 
pears as  our  civilization  touches  him. 

But  in  the  tropics  such  problems  are  perennial  and 
insoluble,  Cuba,  Manila,  Nicaragua,  will  be  slave  terri- 
tories for  centuries  to  come.  These  people  in  such  a  cli- 
mate can  never  have  self-government  in  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  sense.  Whatever  form  of  control  we  adopt,  we 
shall  be  in  fact  slave-drivers,  and  the  business  of  slave- 
driving  will  react  upon  us.  Slavery  itself  was  a  disease 
which  came  to  us  from  the  British  West  Indies.  It 
breeds  in  the  tropics  like  yellow  fever  and  leprosy.  Can 
even  an  imperial  republic  last,  part  slave,  part  free  ? 

But  England  endures,  and  her  control  of  slave  terri- 
tories is  her  "  doom  and  pride."  What  then  of  British 
imperialism?  From  the  standpoint  of  imperialism  Eng- 
land is  an  oligarchy,  not  a  republic.  Her  government 
is  not  self-rule,  but  the  direction  of  commerce.  It  is 
admiralty  rather  than  democracy.  Americans  govern 
themselves.  Englishmen  are  ruled  by  the  government 
of  their  own  choosing.  Englishmen  govern  themselves 
in  municipal  affairs,  and  in  ways  from  which  we  have 
much  to  learn.  In  foreign  affairs  their  huge  govern- 
mental machine,  backed  by  the  momentum  of  tradition, 
is  all-powerful.  This  rules  Ireland,  India,  Gibraltar, 
Egypt,  all  England's  dependencies  and  wards.  The 
other  colonies  are  republics  in  fact.  Canada,  New  Zeal- 


LEST  WE  FORGET." 


33 


and,  the  states  of  Australia — these  are  republics  bound 
to  keep  the  peace  with  the  mother  country,  but  in  no 
other  way  controlled  by  her.  Only  ties  of  sentiment 
bind  Canada  to  England.  In  all  practical  matters,  she 
is  one  with  the  United  States. 

The  stronger  the  governmental  machine,  and  the  more 
adjustable  its  powers,  the  better  the  government.  But 
government  is  not  the  main  business  of  a  republic.  If 
good  government  were  all,  democracy  would  not  deserve 
half  the  effort  that  is  spent  upon  it.  For  the  function 
of  democracy  is  not  to  make  government  good.  It  is 
to  make  men  strong.  Better  government  than  any  re- 
public has  yet  enjoyed  could  be  had  in  simpler  and 
cheaper  ways.  The  automatic  scheme  of  competitive 
examination  would  give  us  better  service  at  half  the  pre- 
sent cost.  Even  an  ordinary  intelligence  office,  or  states- 
man's employment  bureau  would  serve  us  better  than 
conventions  and  elections.  Government  too  good  as 
well  as  too  bad  may  have  a  baneful  influence  on  men. 
The  purpose  of  self-government  is  to  intensify  individual  [/ 
responsibility,  to  promote  attempts  at  wisdom,  through 
which  true  wisdom  may  come  at  last.  The  republic  is  a 
huge  laboratory  of  civics,  a  laboratory  in  which  strange 
experiments  are  performed,  but  in  which,  as  in  other 
laboratories,  wisdom  may  arise  from  experience,  and  once 
arisen  may  work  itself  out  into  virtue. 

It  is  not  true  that  the  government  "  which  is  best  ad- 
ministered is  best."  That  is  the  maxim  of  tyranny. 
That  government  is  best  which  makes  the  best  men.  In 
the  training  of  manhood  lies  the  certain  pledge  of  bet- 
ter government  in  the  future.  The  civic  problems  of 
the  future  will  be  greater  than  those  of  the  past.  They 


34  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

will  concern  not  the  relations  of  nation  to  nation,  but  of 
man  to  man.  The  policing  of  far-off  islands,  the  herd- 
ing of  baboons  and  elephants,  the  maintenance  of  the 
machinery  of  imperialism  are  petty  things  beside  the 
duties  which  the  higher  freedom  demands.  To  turn 
to  these  empty  and  showy  affairs,  is  to  neglect  our  own 
business  for  the  gossip  of  our  neighbors.  Such  work  may 
be  a  matter  of  necessity ;  it  should  not  be  a  source  of 
pride.  The  political  greatness  of  England  has  never 
lain  in  her  navies  nor  the  force  of  her  arms.  It  has  lain 
in  her  struggles  for  individual  freedom.  Not  Marl- 
borough  nor  Nelson  nor  Wellington  is  its  exponent. 
Let  us  say  rather  Pym  and  Hampden,  and  Gladstone 
and  Bright.  The  real  problems  of  England  have  always 
been  at  home.  The  pomp  of  imperialism,  the  display 
of  naval  power,  the  commercial  control  of  India  and 
China, — all  these  are  as  the  "  bread  and  circuses  "  by 
which  the  Roman  emperors  held  the  mob  from  their 
thrones.  They  keep  the  people  busy  and  put  off  the 
day  of  final  reckoning.  "Gild  the  dome  of  the  In- 
valides,"  was  Napoleon's  cynical  command,  when  he 
learned  that  the  people  of  Paris  were  becoming  des- 
perate. 

The  people  of  England  seek  blindly  for  a  higher  jus- 
tice, a  loftier  freedom,  and  so  the  ruling  ministry  crowns 
the  good  queen  as  "  Empress  of  India."  Meanwhile, 
the  real  problems  of  civilization  develop  and  ripen. 
They  care  nothing  for  the  greatness  of  empire  nor  the 
glitter  of  imperialism.  They  must  be  solved  by  men, 
and  each  man  must  help  solve  his  own  problems.  The 
development  of  republican  manhood  is  just  now  the 
most  important  matter  that  any  nation  in  the  world  has 


"  LEST  WE   FORGET."  35 

on  hand.  We  have  been  fairly  successful  thus  far,  but 
perhaps  only  fairly.  Our  government  is  careless,  waste- 
ful and  unjust,  but  our  men  are  growing  self-contained 
and  wise.  Despite  the  annual  invasion  of  foreign  illit- 
eracy, despite  the  degeneration  of  congested  cities,  the 
individual  intelligence  of  men  stands  higher  in  America 
than  any  other  part  of  the  world.  The  bearing  of  the 
people  at  large  in  these  days  is  a  lesson  in  itself.  Com- 
pare the  behavior  of  the  American  people,  in  this  and 
other  trying  times,  with  that  of  the  masses  of  any 
other  nation,  and  we  see  what  democracy  has  done. 
And  we  shall  see  more  of  this  as  our  history  goes  on. 
Free  schools,  free  ballot,  free  thought,  free  religion — all 
tend  to  enforce  self-reliance,  self-respect,  and  the  sense 
of  duty,  which  are  the  surest  foundation  of  national  great- 
ness. 

An  active  foreign  policy  would  slowly  change  much  of 
this.  The  nation  which  deals  with  war  and  diplomacy 
must  be  quick  to  act  and  quick  to  change.  It  must, 
like  the  Oregon,  be  able  to  reverse  itself  within  its  own 
length.  To  this  end,  good  government  is  a  necessity, 
whether  it  be  self-government  or  not.  Democracy 
yields  before  diplomacy.  Republicanism  steps  aside 
when  war  is  declared.  "An  army,"  said  Wellington, 
"  can  get  along  under  a  poor  general.  It  can  do  noth- 
ing under  a  debating  society."  In  war  the  strongest 
man  must  lead,  and  military  discipline  is  the  only  train- 
ing for  an  army.  In  a  militant  nation  the  same  rules 
hold  in  peace  as  in  war.  We  cannot  try  civic  experi- 
ments with  a  foe  at  our  gates.  A  foe  is  always  at  the 
gates  of  a  nation  with  a  vigorous  foreign  policy.  Experi- 
ments  such  as  we  freely  try  would  wreck  the^British  Em- 


36  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

pire.  For  one  of  England's  great  parties  to  propose  a  radi- 
cal change  like  that  of  the  free  coinage  of  silver  would 
produce  a  panic  like  that  of  the  swallowing  of  London  by 
an  earthquake.  The  British  nation  is  hated  and  feared 
of  all  nations  except  our  own,  and  we  love  her  only  in 
our  lucid  intervals.  Only  her  eternal  vigilance  keeps 
the  vultures  from  her  coasts.  Eternal  vigilance  of  this 
sort  will  strengthen  governments,  will  build  up  nations ; 
it  will  not  in  like  degree  make  men.  The  day  of  the 
nations  as  nations  is  passing.  National  ambitions,  national 
hopes,  national  aggrandizement — all  these  may  become 
public  nuisances.  Imperialism,  like  feudalism,  belongs 
to  the  past.  The  men  of  the  world  as  men,  not  as  na- 
tions, are  drawing  closer  and  closer  together.  The  needs 
of  commerce  are  stronger  than  the  will  of  nations,  and 
the  final  guarantee  of  peace  and  good  will  among  men 
will  be  not  "  the  parliament  of  nations,"  but  the  self-con- 
trol of  men. 

But  whatever  the  outcome  of  the  present  war,  what- 
ever the  fateful  twentieth  century  may  bring,  the  primal 
duty  of  Americans  is  never  to  forget  that  men  are  more 
than  nations ;  that  wisdom  is  more  than  glory,  and  vir- 
tue more  than  dominion  of  the  sea.  The  kingdom  of 
God  is  within  us.  The  nation  exists  for  its-  men,  never 
the  men  for  the  nation.  "  The  only  government  that 
I  recognize,"  said  Thoreau,  "  and  it  matters  not  how  few 
are  at  the  head  of  it  or  how  small  its  army,  is  the  power 
that  establishes  justice  in  the  land,  never  that  which 
establishes  injustice."  And  the  will  of  free  men  to  be . 
just  one  toward  another,  is  our  best  guarantee  that  "  gov- 
ernment of  the  people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the  people, 
shall  not  perish  from  the  earth." 


"LEST  WE   FORGET."  37 

"  God  of  our  fathers,  known  of  old — 

Lord  of  our  far-flung  battle  line — 
Beneath  whose  awful  Hand  we  hold 
Dominion  over  palm  and  pine — 
Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet, 
Lest  we  forget — lest  we  forget. 

"  The  tumult  and  the  shouting  dies — 

The  captains  and  the  kings  depart — 
Still  stands  Thine  ancient  Sacrifice, 
An  humble  and  a  contrite  heart. 
Lord  God  of  Hosts  be  with  us  yet, 
Lest  we  forget,  lest  we  forget ! 

M  Far-called  our  navies  melt  away — 

On  dune  and  headland  sinks  the  fire— 

Lo,  all  our  pomp  of  yesterday 

Is  one  with  Nineveh  and  Tyre ! 

Judge  of  the  nations  spare  us  yet, 

Lest  we  forget — lest  we  forget !  " 


•II. 

COLONIAL  EXPANSION. 


II. 

COLONIAL  EXPANSION.* 

LAST  May  I  spoke  before  my  people  at  home  on  the 
subject  of  Imperialism.  I  took  my  title,  as  I  take  now 
my  text,  from  Kipling's  "  Recessional,"  the  noblest  hymn 
of  our  century :  "  Lest  we  forget."  For  it  seemed  to  me 
then,  just  after  the  battle  of  Manila,  that  we  might  forget 
who  we  are  and  for  what  we  stand.  In  the  sudden  intoxi- 
cation of  far-off  victory,  with  the  consciousness  of  power 
and  courage,  with  the  feeling  that  all  the  world  is  talking 
of  us,  our  great  stern  mother  patting  us  on  the  back,  and 
all  the  lesser  peoples  looking  on  in  fear  or  envy,  we 
might  lose  our  heads.  But  greater  glory  than  this  has 
been  ours  before.  For  more  than  a  century  our  nation 
has  stood  for  something  higher  and  nobler  than  success 
in  war,  something  not  enhanced  by  a  victory  at  sea,  or  a 
wild  bold  charge  over  a  hill  lined  with  masked  batteries. 
We  have  stood  for  civic  ideals,  and  the  greatest  of  these, 
that  government  should  make  men  by  giving  them  free- 
dom to  make  themselves.  The  glory  of  the  American 

*  Address  before  the  Congress  of  Religions  at  Omaha  in 
October,  1898,  published  in  the  "  New  World  "  for  December, 
1898,  under  the  title  of  "Imperial  Democracy." 

41 


42  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

Republic  is  that  it  is  the  embodiment  of  American  man- 
hood. It  was  the  dream  of  the  fathers  that  this  should 
always  be  so, — that  American  government  and  republican 
manhood  should  be  co-extensive,  that  the  nation  shall 
not  go  where  freedom  cannot  go. 

This  is  the  meaning  of  Washington's  Farewell  Address  : 
that  America  should  grow  strong  within  herself,  should 
keep  out  of  all  fights  and  friendships  that  are  not  her 
own,  should  secure  no  territory  in  which  a  free  man 
cannot  live,  and  should  own  no  possessions  that  may  not 
in  time  be  numbered  among  the  United  States.  In  other 
words,  America  should  not  be  a  power  among  the  nations, 
but  a  nation  among  the  powers.  This  view  of  the  func- 
tion our  country  rests  on  is  no  mere  accident  of  revolu- 
tion or  isolation.  It  has  its  base  in  sound  political  com- 
mon-sense, and  in  the  rush  of  new  claims  and  new  pos- 
sibilities we  should  not  forget  this  old  wisdom. 

This  year  1898  makes  one  of  the  three  world-crises  in 
our  history.  Twice  before  have  we  stood  at  the  parting 
of  the  ways.  Twice  before  have  wise  counsels  controlled 
our  decision.  The  first  crisis  followed  the  war  of  the 
Revolution.  Its  question  was  this,  What  relation  shall 
the  weak,  scattered  colonies  of  varying  tempers  and 
various  ambitions  bear  to  one  another?  The  answer 
waSj  the  American  Constitution,  the  federation  of  self- 
governing  United  States. 

The  second  crisis  came  through  the  growth  of  slavery. 
The  union  of  the  States,  we  found,  could  not  "  per- 
manently endure  half  slave,  half  free."  These  were  the 
words  of  Lincoln  at  Springfield  in  1858, — the  words  that 
made  Douglass  Senator  from  Illinois,  that  made  Lincoln 
the  first  President  of  the  re-united  States.  These  are  the 


COLONIAL  EXPANSION.  43 

words  which,  fifty  years  ago,  drove  the  timid  away  in 
fear,  that  rallied  the  strong  to  brave  deeds  in  face  of  a 
great  crisis.  And  this  was  our  decision :  Slavery  must 
die  that  the  Union  shall  live. 

The  third  crisis  is  on  us  to-day.  It  is  not  the  con- 
quest of  Spain,  not  the  disposition  of  the  spoils  of  vic- 
tory which  first  concerns  us.  It  is  the  spirit  that  lies 
behind  it.  Shall  our  armies  go  where  our  institutions 
cannot?  Shall  territorial  expansion  take  the  place  of 
Democratic  freedom?  Shall  our  invasion  of  the  Orient 
be  merely  an  incident,  an  accident  of  a  war  of  knight- 
errantry,  temporary  and  exceptional?  Or  is  it  to  mark 
a  new  policy,  the  reversion  from  America  to  Europe, 
from  Democracy  to  Imperialism? 

It  is  my  own  belief  that  the  crisis  is  already  passing. 
Our  choice  for  the  future  is  made.  We  have  already 
lost  our  stomach  for  Imperialism,  as  we  come  to  see 
what  it  means.  A  century  of  republicanism  has  given  the 
common  man  common  sense,  and  the  tawdry  glories  of 
foreign  dominion  already  cease  to  dazzle  and  deceive. 
But  the  responsibilities  of  our  acts  are  upon  us.  Hawaii 
and  Alaska  are  ours  already.  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  we 
cannot  escape,  and,  most  unfortunate  of  all,  the  most  of 
us  see  no  clear  way  to  justice  toward  the  Philippines. 
The  insistent  duties  of  "  Compulsory,  Imperialism" 
already  clamor  for  our  attention. 

In  the  face  of  these  tremendous  problems,  the  nation 
should  at  least  be  serious.  It  is  not  enough  to  swell  our 
breasts  over  the  glories  of  national  expansion,  roll  up  our 
eyes,  and  prate  about  the  guiding  finger  of  Providence, 
while  the  black  swarm  of  our  political  vultures  swoop 
down  on  our  new  possessions.  To  the  end  that  we  may 


44  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

understand  the  serious  work  of  "  Compulsory  Imperial- 
ism," let  us  look  briefly  at  a  number  of  easy  propositions 
or  axioms  of  political  science,  pertinent,  each  in  its 
degree,  to  the  topic  before  us. 

Colonial  expansion  is  not  national  growth.  By  the 
spirit  of  our  Constitution  our  Nation  can  expand  only 
with  the  growth  of  freedom.  It  is  composed  not  of  land 
but  of  men.  It  is  a  self-governing  people,  gathered  in 
self-governing  United  States.  There  is  no  objection  to 
national  expansion  where  honorably  brought  about.  If 
there  were  any  more  space  to  be  occupied  by  American 
citizens,  who  could  take  care  of  themselves,  we  would 
cheerfully  overflow  and  fill  it.  But  Colonial  Aggrandize- 
ment is  not  national  expansion;  slaves  are  not  men. 
Wherever  degenerate,  dependent  or  alien  races  are 
within  our  borders  to-day,  they  are  not  part  of  the 
United  States.  They  constitute  a  social  problem;  a 
menace  to  peace  and  welfare.  There  is  no  solution  of 
race  problem  or  class  problem,  until  race  or  class  can 
solve  it  for  itself.  Unless  the  Negro  can  make  a  man  of 
himself  through  the  agencies  of  freedom,  free  ballot,  free 
schools,  free  religions,  there  can  be  no  solutions  of  the 
race  problem.  Already  Booker  Washington  warns  us 
that  this  problem  unsettled  is  a  national  danger  greater 
than  the  attack  of  armies  within  or  without.  The  race 
problems  of  the  tropics  are  perennial  and  insoluble,  for 
free  institutions  cannot  exist  where  free  men  cannot 
live. 

The  territorial  expansion  now  contemplated  would  not 
extend  our  institutions,  because  the  proposed  colonies 
are  incapable  of  civilized  self-government.  It  would  not 
extend  our  nation,  because  these  regions  are  already  full 


COLONIAL  EXPANSION.  45 

of  alien  races,  and  not  habitable  by  Anglo-Saxon  people. 
The  strength  of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization  lies  in  the  mental 
and  physical  activity  of  men  and  in  the  growth  of  the 
home.  Where  activity  is  fatal  to  life,  the  Anglo-Saxon 
decays,  mentally,  morally,  physically.  The  home  cannot 
endure  in  the  climate  of  the  tropics.  Mr.  Ingersoll  once 
said  that  if  a  colony  of  New  England  preachers  and 
Yankee  schoolma'ams  were  established  in  the  West 
Indies,  the  third  generation  would  be  seen  riding  bare- 
back on  Sunday  to  the  cock-fights.  Civilization  is,  as  it 
were,  suffocated  in  the  tropics.  It  lives,  as  Benjamin 
Kidd  suggests,  as  though  under  deficiency  of  oxygen. 
The  only  American  who  can  live  in  the  tropics  without 
demoralization  is  the  one  who  has  duties  at  home  and 
is  not  likely  to  go  there. 

The  advances  of  civilization  are  wholly  repugnant  to 
the  children  of  the  tropics.  To  live  without  care,  reck- 
less and  dirty,  to  have  no  duties  and  to  be  in  no  hurry, 
with  the  lottery,  cock-fight  and  games  of  chance  for  ex- 
citement, is  more  to  them  than  rapid  transit,  telegraphic 
communication,  literature,  art,  education,  and  all  the 
joys  of  Saxon  civilization.  The  Latin  republics  fail  for 
reasons  inherent  in  the  nature  of  the  people.  There  is 
little  civic  coherence  among  them ;  feelings  are  mistaken 
for  realities,  words  for  deeds,  and  boasting  for  accomplish- 
ment. Hence  great  words,  lofty  sentiments,  fuss  and 
feathers  generally  take  the  place  of  action. 

We  are  pledged  to  give  self-government  to  Cuba. 
This  we  cannot  do  in  full  without  the  risk  of  seeing  it 
relapse  into  an  anarchy  as  repulsive,  if  not  as  hopeless, 
as  the  tyranny  of  Spain.  Only  the  splendid  apparition 
of  the  man  on  horseback  could  bring  this  to  an  end. 


46  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

The  dictator  may  bring  Law,  but  not  democracy.  Its 
ultimate  fate  and  ours  is  Annexation.  It  is  too  near  us 
and  our  interests  for  us  to  leave  it  to  its  fate,  and  to 
the  schemes  of  its  own  politicians.  It  therefore  remains 
for  us  to  annex  and  assimilate  Cuba,  but  not  at  once. 
We  must  take  our  time,  and  do  it  in  decency  and  order, 
as  we  have  taken  Alaska  and  Hawaii.  We  take  Cuba, 
Porto  Rico  and  Hawaii,  not  because  we  want  them,  but 
because  we  have  no  friends  who  can  manage  them  well 
and  give  us  no  trouble,  and  it  is  possible  that  in  a 
century  or  so  they  may  become  part  of  our  nation  as 
well  as  of  our  territory. 

The  Anglo-Saxon  nations  have  certain  ideals  on  which 
their  political  superstructure  rests.  The  great  political 
service  of  England  is  to  teach  respect  for  law.  The 
British  Empire  rests  on  British  law.  The  great  political 
service  of  the  United  States  is  to  teach  respect  for  the 
individual  man.  The  American  republic  rests  on  in- 
dividual manhood.  The  chief  agency  in  the  develop- 
ment of  free  manhood  is  the  recognition  of  the  individual 
man  as  the  responsible  unit  of  government.  This  recog- 
nition is  not  confined  to  local  and  municipal  affairs,  as 
is  practically  the  case  in  England,  but  extends  to  all 
branches  of  government. 

It  is  the  axiom  of  democracy  that  "  government  must 
derive  its  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed." 
No  such  consent  justifies  slavery;  hence  our  Union 
"  could  not  endure  half  slave,  half  free."  No  such  con- 
sent justifies  our  hold  on  Alaska,  Hawaii,  Cuba,  Porto 
Rico,  the  Ladrones  or  the  Philippines.  The  people  do 
not  want  us,  our  ways,  our  business,  or  our  government. 
Only  as  we  displace  them  or  amuse  them  with  cheap 


COLONIAL  EXPANSION.  47 

shows  do  we  gain  their  consent.  These  are  slave  nations, 
and  their  inhabitants  cannot  be  units  in  government.  In 
our  hands,  as  Judge  Morrow  has  pointed  out  in  a  recent 
decision,  they  will  have  no  voice  in  their  own  affairs,  but 
must  be  subject  to  the  sovereign  will  of  Congress  alone. 
This  implies  taxation  without  representation,  a  matter 
of  which  something  was  said  in  Boston  one  hundred 
and  thirty  years  ago.  Our  Constitution  knows  no  such 
thing  as  permanently  dependent  colonies,  else  the  ac- 
quisition of  such  would  have  been  formally  forbidden. 

To  be  subject  to  the  will  of  Congress,  as  the  history  of 
Alaska  has  clearly  shown,  is  to  be  subject  to  vacillation, 
corruption,  tyranny,  parsimony  and  neglect.  The  great- 
est scandals  England  has  known  have  come  from  her 
neglected  colonies.  It  is  not  that  Americans  or  Eng- 
lishmen are  incompetent  to  handle  any  class  of  problems. 
It  is  because  the  public  weary  of  them ;  colonial  affairs 
are  trivial,  paltry  and  exasperating.  When  a  colony 
ceases  to  be  a  new  toy,  it  falls  into  neglect.  The  record 
of  American  occupation  of  our  one  colony  of  Alaska  is 
the  same  in  kind  (climate  and  blood  excepted)  with  that 
of  Spanish  rule  in  Cuba  or  the  Ladrones.  We  are  blind 
to  this  because  we  do  not  care.  Alaska  is  none  of  our 
business ;  we  have  no  money  invested  in  it.  In  a  few 
years  Alaska  will  have  no  resources  left ;  then  we  may 
throw  it  away  as  we  would  throw  a  sucked  orange.  The 
American-Spanish  idea  of  a  colony  is  a  place  to  be  ex- 
ploited, to  make  its  captors  rich  by  its  resources  and  its 
trade.  We  have  cured  Spain  of  that  idea,  by  taking  all 
her  colonies  away.  But  we  have  not  attained  to  the  idea 
that  we  must  spend  our  money  on  our  colonies,  enrich- 
ing them  with  enterprise  and  law. 


48  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

It  is  said  nowadays  that  wherever  our  flag  is  raised  it 
must  never  be  hauled  down.  To  haul  down  an  American 
flag  is  an  insult  to  Old  Glory.  But  this  patriotism  rings 
counterfeit.  It  would  touch  a  truer  note  to  say  that 
wherever  our  flag  goes  it  shall  bring  good  government. 
It  should,  as  Senator  Mason  suggests,  "  never  float  over 
an  unwilling  people."  Whatever  land  comes  under  the 
American  flag  should  have  the  best  government  we  know 
how  to  give.  It  should  be  better  than  we  give  ourselves, 
for  it  lacks  the  noble  advantages  of  self-rule. 

Take  the  Philippines  or  leave  them  !  No  half-way 
measures  can  be  permanent.  To  rule  at  arm's  length 
is  to  fail  in  government.  These  islands  must  belong  to 
the  United  States,  or  else  they  must  belong  to  the  people 
who  inhabit  them.  If  we  govern  the  Philippines,  so  in 
their  degree  must  the  Philippines  govern  us. 

There  are  some  economists  who  intelligently  favor 
colonial  extension  to-day  because  to  handle  colonies  suc- 
cessfully must  force  on  us  English  forms  of  government. 
A  dose  of  Imperialism  would  stiffen  the  back  of  our 
Democracy.  English  forms  are  better  than  ours  in  this, 
that  they  can  deal  more  accurately  with  outside  affairs. 
This  is  because  the  people  of  England  are  never  con- 
sulted by  the  foreign  office,  the  colonial  office  or  the 
Bureau  controlling  coinage  and  finance.  To  remove 
these  matters  from  popular  control  makes  for  good 
government  at  the  expense  of  training  of  the  people. 
As  to  which  is  the  better  there  is  room  for  honest  differ- 
ence of  opinion.  The  essence  of  this  argument  is  that 
pressure  from  without  will  force  us  to  take  all  difficult 
matters  out  of  the  people's  hands,  intrusting  them  only 
to  trained  representatives.  It  is  true,  no  doubt,  that 


COLONIAL  EXPANSION.  49 

our  standing  in  the  world  is  lowered  because  our  best 
statesmen  are  not  in  politics  to  the  degree  that  they  are 
in  England.  The  rules  of  the  game  shut  them  out. 
But  I  believe  that  we  can  change  these  rules  by  forces 
now  at  work.  Wiser  voters  will  demand  better  repre- 
sentatives, but  these  must  keep  in  touch  with  the  people, 
acting  with  them  and  through  them,  never  in  their  stead. 
For  reasons  I  shall  give  later  on,  I  believe  that  to  adopt 
British  forms,  with  all  their  unquestioned  advantages, 
would  be  a  step  backward  and  downward. 

Leaving  political  philosophers  aside,  the  noisiest 
advocates  of  colonial  expansion  are  among  men  least 
interested  in  good  government  at  home.  Chief  among 
these  are  ministers,  ignorant  of  the  difficulties  of  wise 
administration,  and  politicians  contemptuous  of  them. 
If  it  were  not  for  the  petty  offices  which  the  Philippines 
promise,  half  the  political  impulse  in  favor  of  their 
annexation  would  evaporate.  Half  the  rest  comes  from 
the  desire  to  dodge  the  issues  of  labor  and  coinage  by 
setting  people  to  talking  of  something  else. 

There  are  two  parties  in  every  free  country,  and  only 
two.  These  are,  first,  those  who  strive  for  good  govern- 
ment, and  second,  those  who  hope  to  gain  something — 
money,  glory,  prestige — from  bad  government.  These 
two  parties  are  not  called  republican  or  democrat,  not 
whig  or  tory.  They  do  not  present  separate  tickets — 
the  first  party  never  presents  tickets  at  all.  It  is  always 
in  the  minority,  but  it  is  the  glory  and  the  hope  of 
the  democracy  that  it  always  comes  out  victorious  after 
the  election  is  over. 

The  chief  real  argument  for  the  retention  of  the  Phil- 
ippines rests  on  the  belief  that  if  we  do  not  take  them, 


5O  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

they  will  fall  into  worse  hands.  This  may  be  true,  but 
it  is  open  to  question.  It  is  easy  to  treat  them  as  Spain 
has  done;  but  none  of  the  eloquent  voices  raised  for 
annexation  have  yet  suggested  anything  better.  We  must 
also  recognize  that  the  nerve  and  courage  of  Dewey  and 
his  associates  seem  spent  to  little  avail  if  we  cast  away 
what  we  have  won.  To  leave  the  Philippines,  after  all 
this,  seems  like  patriotism  under  false  pretenses.  But 
nothing  could  have  induced  us  to  accept  these  islands, 
if  offered  for  nothing,  before  the  battle  of  Manila.  If 
we  take  the  Philippines,  the  business  of  bringing  peace 
through  war  is  scarce  begun.  The  great  majority  of  the 
Filipinos  have  never  yet  heard  of  Spain,  much  less  of 
the  United  States.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  Malay 
pirates  of  the  Southern  Islands  and  the  black  negritos 
of  the  unexplored  interior.  It  would  not  be  an  easy  and 
humane  task  to  bring  these  folk  to  the  extermination 
which  some  of  the  annexationists  placidly  claim  is  the 
final  doom  of  negritos,  Kanaka,  Malays  and  all  inferior 
races  who  get  in  anybody's  way. 

This,  according  to  John  Morley,*  is  England's  ex- 
perience in  bringing  peace  to  suffering  humanity  in  the 
tropics  :  "  First,  you  push  on  into  territories  where  you 
have  no  business  to  be,  and  where  you  had  promised  not 
to  go ;  secondly,  your  intrusion  provokes  resentment, 
and,  in  these  wild  countries,  resentment  means  resist- 
ance ;  thirdly,  you  instantly  cry  out  that  the  people  are 
rebellious  and  that  their  act  is  rebellion  (this  in  spite  of 
your  own  assurance  that  you  have  no  intention  of  set- 
ting up  a  permanent  sovereignty  over  them)  ;  fourthly, 
you  send  a  force  to  stamp  out  the  rebellion ;  and  fifthly, 
*  As  quoted  in  the  New  York  Nation. 


COLONIAL  EXPANSION.  51 

having  spread  bloodshed,  confusion  and  anarchy,  you 
declare,  with  hands  uplifted  to  the  heavens,  that  moral 
reasons  force  you  to  stay,  for  if  you  were  to  leave,  this 
territory  would  be  left  in  a  condition  which  no  civilized 
power  could  contemplate  with  equanimity  or  with  com- 
posure. These  are  the  five  stages  in  the  Forward  Rake's 
progress."  It  was  of  England  in  Chitral  that  Morley  said 
this,  not  of  America  in  Luzon.  No  wonder  England 
now  cheers  us  on.  We  are  following  her  lead.  We  are 
giving  to  her  methods  the  sanction  of  our  respecta- 
bility. 

There  are  many  who  say,  "Take  whatever  we  can 
get.  Who  is  afraid  ?  What  is  there  for  the  strongest, 
richest,  bravest,  wisest  nation  on  earth  to  fear  ?  "  But 
it  is  not  force  we  fear.  Armies,  navies,  kings  and  Kai- 
sers, so  long  as  we  behave  ourselves,  can  never  harm  our 
republic.  It  is  bad  government  we  fear,  the  dry  rot  of 
official  mismanagement,  corruption  and  neglect,  the  de- 
cay which  the  Fates  mete  out  "  when  the  tumult  and  the 
shouting  dies "  to  the  nations  that  forget  their  ideals. 
To  come  to  "our  place  among  the  nations"  will  be  to 
show  that  democracy  can  give  good  government,  govern- 
ment firm,  dignified,  economical,  just.  It  does  not  mean 
to  have  everybody  talking  about  us,  to  carry  our  flag  into 
every  sea  and  to  spread  rank  imbecility  over  a  hundred 
scattered  islands. 

So  far  as  the  Philippines  are  concerned,  the  only 
righteous  thing  to  do  would  be  to  recognize  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Philippines  under  American  protection, 
and  to  lend  them  our  army  and  navy  and  our  wisest 
counselors,  not  our  politicians,  but  our  jurists,  our  teach- 
ers, with  foresters,  electricians,  manufacturers,  mining 


f 

52  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

experts,  and  experts  in  the  various  industries.  We  should 
not  get  our  money  back,  but  we  should  save  our 
honor. 

<\  The  only  sensible  thing  to  do  would  be  to  pull  out 
some  dark  night  and  escape  from  the  great  problem  of 
the  Orient  as  suddenly  and  as  dramatically  as  we  got 
into  it. 

To  take  a  weak  nation  by  the  throat  is  not  the  righteous 
way  to  win  its  trade.  It  is  not  true  that  "  trade  follows 
the  flag."  Trade  flies  through  the  open  door.  To 
open  the  door  of  the  Orient  is  to  open  our  own  doors 
to  Asia.  To  do  this  hurries  us  on  toward  the  final 
"  manifest  destiny,"  the  leveling  of  the  nations.  Where 
the  barriers  are  all  broken  down,  and  the  world  becomes 
one  vast  commercial  republic,  there  will  be  leveling 
down  of  government,  character,  ideals,  as  well  as  level- 
ing up. 

It  is  the  duty  of  nations  with  ideals  to  struggle 
against  "  manifest  destiny."  In  the  Norse  Mythology 
the  Fenris-Wolf  in  the  Twilight  of  the  Gods  shall  at  last 
devour  them  all.  So  at  last  in  the  Twilight  of  the 
Nations  shall  all  of  them  succumb  to  "  Manifest  Des- 
tiny." The  huge  armaments  of  Europe,  its  invincible 
armies,  its  mighty  navies,  are  but  piled  up  as  fagots  for 
the  burning  which  shall  destroy  dynasties  and  nations. 
Lowering  of  national  character,  of  national  ideals,  of 
national  pride,  follows  the  path  of  glory, 
t  "  We  want,"  some  say,  "  our  hands  in  oriental  affairs 
""  when  the  great  struggle  follows  the  breaking  up  of 
China."  Others  would  have  "  American  freedom  upheld 
as  a  torchlight  amidst  the  darkness  of  oriental  despot- 


COLONIAL  EXPANSION.  53 

American  institutions  cannot  exist.      But  the   spirit  of 
freedom  goes  with  its  deeds. 

I  do  not  urge  the  money  cost  of  holding  the  Philip- 
pines as  an  argument  against  annexation.  No  depend-  // 
ent  colony,  honestly  administered,  ever  repaid  its  cost 
to  the  government,  and  this  colony  holds  out  not  the 
slightest  promise  of  such  a  result.  In  fact,  the  cost  of  con- 
quest and  maintenance  in  life  and  gold  is  in  grotesque 
excess  of  any  possible  advantage  to  trade  or  to  civilization. 

Individuals  grow  rich,  but  no  honest  government  gets 
its  money  back.  But  with  all  this,  if  annexation  is  a 
duty,  it  is  such  regardless  of  cost. 

But  America  has  governmental  ideals  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  individual  man.  England  has  no  care  for 
the  man,  only  for  civic  order.  This  unfits  America  for 
certain  tasks  for  which  England  is  prepared.  In  Zanzi- 
bar, when  the  king  dies,  the  first  of  the  royal  family  to 
reach  the  throne  is  made  king.  Once  a  king  who  hated 
England  was  thus  chosen.  A  British  man-of-war  in  the 
harbor  promptly  shelled  the  royal  palace  and  killed  so 
many  followers  of  the  new  king  that  the  mistake  was 
quickly  rectified  and  the  Pax  Britannica  restored.  Our 
ideals  stand  in  the  way  of  our  doing  such  things  as  this. 

To  govern  colonies  it  is  necessary  to  have  an  auto- 
matic non-political  civil  service.  That  our  navy  is 
organized  on  such  a  basis  makes  its  strength.  That  the 
volunteer  army  is  not,  is  the  reason  why  the  air  is  full 
to-day  of  charges  and  counter  charges.  The  colonial 
policy  must  be  continuous,  hence  out  of  the  people's 
hands.  It  must  be  flexible,  hence  not  limited  by  con- 
stitutional checks  and  balances.  An  annexationist 
lately  said  to  me,  "  I  am  just  tired  of  hearing  of  the 


54  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

Constitution."  A  labor  agitator  says  that  all  our  trou- 
bles come  from  the  fact  "  every  reform  needed  by  the 
people  is  prevented  by  the  Constitution."  But  to  pre- 
vent foolish  acts,  inside  and  outside  the  country,  the 
Constitution  was  devised. 

Government  derives  its  "  just  powers  from  the  consent 
of  the  governed."  This  is  the  foundation  of  democracy. 
But  where  such  consent  is  impossible,  government  may 
derive  powers  in  another  way.  It  may  justify  itself  be- 
cause it  is  good  government.  This  is  the  maxim  of 
Imperialism.  This  is  the  justification  of  Mexico.  It  is 
the  justification  of  Great  Britain.  The  function  of 
British  Imperialism  is  to  carry  law  and  order,  the  Pax 
Britannica,  to  all  parts  of  the  globe.  This  function  has 
been  worked  out  in  three  ways  corresponding  to  Eng- 
land's three  classes  of  tributary  districts  or  colonies. 
The  first  class  of  these  consists  of  regions  settled  by  Eng- 
lishmen imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  law,  and  capable 
of  taking  care  of  themselves.  Such  colonies  rule  their 
own  affairs  absolutely.  The  bond  of  Imperialism  is  little 
more  than  a  treaty  of  perpetual  friendship.  Over  the 
local  affairs  of  Canada,  for  example,  England  claims  little 
authority  and  exercises  none.  When  difficulties  arise 
with  Canada,  we  see  British  Imperialism  cringing  be- 
fore provincial  politicians  as  a  weak  mother  before  a 
spoiled  child.  Should  Canada  or  Australia  break  from 
her  nominal  allegiance,  the  whole  sham  fabric  of  Im- 
perialism would  fall  to  pieces. 

A  second  class  of  colonies  consists  of  military  posts, 
strategic  points  of  war  or  commerce,  wrested  from  some 
weaker  nation  in  the  militant  past.  In  the  control  of 
these  outposts  "  the  consent  of  the  governed  "  plays  no 


COLONIAL  EXPANSION.  55 

part.  The  inhabitants  of  Gibraltar,  for  example,  count 
for  no  more  than  so  many  "camp-followers."  They 
remain  through  military  suffrance,  and  the  forms  of 
martial  law  suffice  for  all  the  government  they  need. 

The  third  class  of  colonies  is  made  up  of  conquered 
or  bankrupt  nations,  people  whose  own  governmental 
forms  were  so  intolerable  that  England  was  forced  to 
take  them  across  her  knee.  These  nations  still  govern 
themselves  in  one  fashion,  but  each  act  of  their  rulers  is 
subject  to  the  firm  veto  of  the  British  Colonial  Office. 
"  Said  England  unto  Pharaoh,  '  I  will  make  a  man  of 
you,'  "  and  with  Pharaoh,  as  with  other  irresponsibles  of 
the  tropics,  England  has  in  some  degree  succeeded. 
But  this  success  is  attained  only  through  the  strictest 
discipline  of  military  methods.  It  is  not  along  the  lines 
by  which  we  have  made  a  man  of  "  Brother  Jonathan." 
England  has  thus  become  the  guardian  of  the  weak 
nations  of  the  earth,  the  police  force  of  the  unruly,  the 
assignee  of  the  bankrupt. 

Good  government  is  the  justification  for  British  im- 
perialism. If  victories  at  sea,  the  needs  of  humanity, 
"manifest  destiny,"  and  political  dalliance  with  fate 
force  foreign  dominion  on  the  United  States,  American 
imperialism  must  have  the  same  justification.  What- 
ever lands  or  people  come  under  our  flag  are  entitled 
to  good  government,  the  best  that  we  can  give  them. 
This  should  be  better  than  we  give  ourselves,  for  it  is  not 
accompanied  by  the  inestimable  advantages  of  self- 
government.  There  are  duties  as  well  as  glories  inherent 
in  dominion,  and  the  duties  are  by  far  the  more  insistent. 
We  have  had  our  own  set  of  problems  as  important  as 
those  of  .England  and  more  difficult.  It  is  easier  to 
5 


56  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

govern  others  by  force  than  to  rule  ourselves  by  intelli- 
gence. 

Though  one  in  blood  with  England,  our  course  of 
political  activities  has  not  lain  parallel  with  hers.  While 
England  has  been  making  trade  we  have  been  making 
men.  We  have  no  machinery  to  govern  colonies  well. 
We  want  no  such  machinery  if  we  can  help  it.  The  habit 
of  our  people  and  the  tendency  of  our  forms  of  govern- 
ment are  to  lead  people  to  mind  their  own  business. 
Only  the  business  of  individuals  or  groups  of  individuals 
receives  attention.  Our  representatives  in  Congress  are 
our  attorneys,  retained  to  look  after  our  interests,  the  in- 
terest of  the  state  or  district,  not  of  the  nation.  A  colony 
has  no  attorney,  and  its  demands,  as  matters  now  stand, 
must  go  by  default.  This  is  the  reason  why  we  fail  in  the 
government  of  colonies.  This  is  the  reason  why  our  con- 
sular service  is  weak  and  inefficient.  This  is  the  reason 
why  our  forests  are  wasted  year  by  year.  Nothing  is  well 
done  in  a  republic  unless  it  touches  the  interest  or  catches 
the  attention  of  the  people.  Unless  a  colony  knows  what 
good  government  is  and  insists  loudly  on  having  it,  with 
some  means  to  make  itself  heard,  it  will  be  neglected 
and  abused.  This  is  why  every  body  of  people  under 
the  American  flag  must  have  a  share  in  the  American 
government.  When  a  colony  knows  what  good  govern- 
ment is,  it  ceases  to  be  a  colony  and  can  take  care  of 
itself. 

The  question  is  not  whether  Great  Britain  or  the 
United  States  has  the  better  form  of  government  or  the 
nobler  civic  mission.  There  is  room  in  the  world  for 
two  types  of  Anglo-Saxon  nations,  and  nothing  has  yet 
happened  to  show  that  civilization  would  gain  if  either 


COLONIAL  EXPANSION.  57 

were  to  take  up  the  function  of  the  other.  We  may 
not  belittle  the  tremendous  services  of  England  in  the 
enforcement  of  laws  amid  barbarism.  We  may  not  deny 
that  every  aggression  of  hers  on  weaker  nations  results 
in  some  good  to  the  conquered,  but  we  insist  that  our 
own  function  of  turning  masses  into  men,  of  "  knowing 
men  by  name,"  is  as  noble  as  hers.  Better  for  the  world 
that  the  whole  British  Empire  should  be  dissolved,  as  it 
must  be  late  or  soon,  than  that  the  United  States  should 
forget  her  own  mission  in  a  mad  chase  of  emulation. 
He  reads  history  to  little  purpose  who  finds  in  imperial 
dominion  a  result,  a  cause  or  even  a  sign  of  national 
greatness. 

It  is  not  true  that  England's  escape  from  political 
corruption  is  due  to  the  growth  of  her  imperial  power. 
It  is  due  to  the  growth  of  individual  intelligence,  the 
spread  of  the  spirit  of  democracy.  To  this  development 
Imperialism  has  been  a  hindrance  only.  Sooner  or 
later  Imperialism  must  be  abandoned  by  England. 
The  subject  peoples  must  share  with  England  the  cost 
and  the  responsibility  of  rule  else  the  mother  country 
will  be  crushed  under  its  burdens.  Sooner  or  later,  says 
a  recent  writer : 

"  England  must  take  all  her  colonies  into  political  copartner- 
ship (of  taxation  and  of  responsibility)  or  else  abandon  them,  or 
in  the  end  be  crushed  by  the  burden  of  their  care." 

We  may  have  a  navy  and  coaling  stations  to  meet  our 
commercial  needs  without  entering  on  colonial  expansion. 
It  takes  no  war  to  accomplish  this  honorably.  What- 
ever land  we  may  need  in  our  business  we  may  buy  in 
the  open  market  as  we  buy  coal.  If  the  owners  will 


58  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

accept  our  price  it  needs  no  Imperialism  to  foot  the 
bills.  But  the  question  of  such  need  is  one  for  com- 
mercial experts,  not  for  politicians.  Our  decision  should 
be  in  the  interest  of  commerce,  not  of  sea  power.  We 
need,  no  doubt,  navy  enough  to  protect  us  from  insults, 
even  though  every  battleship,  Charles  Sumner  pointed 
out  fifty  years  ago,  costs  as  much  as  Harvard  College, 
and  though  schools,  not  battleships,  make  the  strength 
of  the  United  States.  We  have  drawn  more  strength 
from  Harvard  College  than  from  a  thousand  men-of-war. 
Once  Spain  owned  some  battleships,  as  many  and  as  swift 
as  ours,  but  she  had  no  men  of  science  to  handle  them. 
A  British  fleet  bottled  up  at  Santiago  or  Cavite  would 
have  given  a  very  different  account  of  itself.  It  is  men 
not  ships  which  make  a  navy.  It  is  our  moral  and 
material  force,  our  brains  and  character  and  ingenuity 
and  wealth  that  make  America  a  power  among  the 
nations,  not  her  battleships.  These  are  only  visible 
symptoms  designed  to  impress  the  ignorant  or  incredu- 
lous. The  display  of  force  saves  us  from  insults — from 
those  who  do  not  know  our  mettle. 

Men  say  that  we  want  nobler  political  problems  than 
those  we  have.  We  are  tired  of  our  tasks  "  artificial  and 
transient,"  "  insufferably  parochial,"  and  seek  some  new 
ones  worthy  of  our  national  bigness.  I  have  no  patience 
with  such  talk  as  this.  The  greatest  political  problems 
the  world  has  ever  known  are  ours  to-day  and  still  un- 
solved,— the  problems  of  free  men  in  freedom.  Be- 
cause these  are  hard  and  trying  we  would  shirk  them  in 
order  to  meddle  with  the  affairs  of  our  weak-minded 
neighbors.  So  we  are  tired  of  the  labor  problem,  the 
corporation  problem,  the  race  problem,  the  problem  of 


COLONIAL  EXPANSION.  59 

coinage,  of  municipal  government  and  the  greatest  pro- 
blem of  all,  that  of  the  oppression  of  the  individual  man 
by  the  social  combinations  to  which  he  belongs,  by  those 
to  which  he  does  not  belong,  and  by  the  corporate  power 
of  society  which  may  become  the  greatest  tyrant  of  all. 
Then  let  us  turn  to  the  politics  of  Guam  and  Mindanao, 
and  let  our  own  difficulties  settle  themselves  !  Shame 
on  our  cowardice  !  Are  the  politics  of  Luzon  cleaner 
than  those  of  New  York  ?  We  would  give  our  blood  to 
our  country,  would  we  not?  Then  let  us  give  her  our 
brains.  More  than  the  blood  of  heroes  she  needs  the 
intelligence  of  men. 


III. 

A  BLIND  MAN'S  HOLIDAY. 

And  unregretful,  threw  us  all  away 
To  flaunt  it  in  a  Blind  Man's  Holiday." 

LOWELL. 


III. 

A  BLIND   MAN'S  HOLIDAY.* 

I  wish  to  maintain  a  single  proposition.  We  should 
withdraw  from  the  Philippine  Islands  as  soon  as  in  dig- 
nity we  can.  It  is  bad  statesmanship  to  make  these  alien 
people  our  partners ;  it  is  a  crime  to  make  them  our 
slaves.  If  we  hold  their  lands  there  is  no  middle  course. 
Only  a  moral  question  brings  a  crisis  to  man  or  nation. 
In  the  presence  of  a  crisis,  only  righteousness  is  right 
and  only  justice  is  safe. 

I  ask  you  to  consider  with  me  three  questions  of  the 
hour.  Why  do  we  want  the  Philippines?  What  can  we 
do  with  them  ?  What  will  they  do  to  us  ? 

These  questions  demand  serious  consideration,  not 
one  at  a  time  but  all  together.  We  should  know  clearly 
our  final  intentions  as  a  nation,  for  it  is  never  easy  to  re- 
trace false  steps.  We  have  made  too  many  of  these  al- 
ready. It  is  time  for  us  to  grow  serious.  Even  the 
most  headlong  of  our  people  admit  that  we  stand  in  the 
presence  of  a  real  crisis,  while,  so  far  as  we  can  see, 
there  is  no  hand  at  the  helm.  But  the  problem  is  vir- 

*  Read  before  the  Graduate  Club  of  Leland  Stanford  Junior 
University,  Feb.  14,  1899 :  and  afterwards  (April  3)  published  for 
the  Club  by  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  John  J.  Valentine. 

63 


64  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

tually  solved  when  we  know  what  our  true  interests  are. 
Half  the  energy  we  have  spent  in  getting  into  trouble 
will  take  us  honorably  out  of  it.  Once  convinced  that 
we  do  not  want  the  Philippines  it  will  be  easy  to  aban- 
don them  with  honor.  If  we  are  to  take  them  we  can- 
not get  at  it  too  soon.  The  difficulty  is  that  we  do  not 
yet  know  what  we  want,  and  we  are  afraid  that  if  we 
once  let  these  people  go  we  shall  never  catch  them 
again.  With  our  longings  after  Imperialism  we  have  not 
had  the  nerve  to  act. 

Let  us  glance  for  a  moment  at  the  actual  condition  of 
affairs.  By  the  fortunes  of  war  the  capital  of  the  Philip- 
pine Islands  fell,  last  May,  into  the  hands  of  our  navy. 
The  city  of  Manila  we  have  held,  and  by  dint  of  bulldog 
diplomacy  our  final  treaty  of  peace  has  assigned  to  us  the 
four  hundred  or  fourteen  hundred  islands  of  the  whole 
archipelago.  To  these  we  have  as  yet  no  real  title.  We 
can  get  none  till  the  actual  owners  have  been  consulted. 
We  have  a  legal  title,  of  course,  but  no  moral  title  and  no 
actual  possession.  We  have  only  purchased  Spain's  quit- 
claim deed  to  property  she  could  not  hold,  and  which  she 
cannot  transfer.  For  the  right  to  finish  the  conquest  of 
the  Philippines  and  to  close  out  the  insurrection  which 
has  gone  on  for  almost  a  century  we  have  agreed,  on  our 
part,  to  pay  $20,000,000  in  cash,  for  the  people  of  the 
Islands  and  the  land  on  which  they  were  born,  and 
which,  in  their  fashion,  they  have  cultivated.  This  is  a 
sum  absurdly  large,  if  we  consider  only  the  use  we  are 
likely  to  make  of  the  region  and  the  probable  cost  of 
its  reconquest  and  rule.  It  seems  criminally  small  if  we 
consider  the  possible  returns  to  us  or  to  Spain  from  ped- 
dling out  the  islands  as  old  junk  in  the  open  market,  or 


A  BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  65        S 

from  leasing  them  to  commercial  companies  competent 
to  exploit  them  to  their  utmost.  The  price  is  high  when 
we  remember  that  the  United  States  for  a  century  has 
felt  absolutely  no  need  for  such  property  and  would  not 
have  taken  any  of  it,  or  all  of  it,  or  any  other  like  pro- 
perty as  a  gift.  The  price  is  high,  too,  when  we  ob- 
serve that  the  failure  of  Spain  placed  the  islands  not  in 
our  hands  but  in  the  hands  of  their  own  people,  a  third 
party,  whose  interest  we,  like  Spain,  have  as  yet  failed  to 
consider.  Emilio  Aguinaldo,  the  liberator  of  the  Fili- 
pinos, the  "Washington  of  the  Orient,"  is  the  de facto 
ruler  of  most  of  Luzon.  In  our  hands  is  the  city  of 
Manila,  and  not  much  else,  and  we  cannot  extend  our 
power  except  by  bribery  or  by  force.  We  may  pervert 
these  fragile  patriots  as  Spain  claims  to  have  done ;  or, 
like  Spain,  we  may  redden  the  swamps  of  Luzon  with 
their  rebellious  blood. 

"Who  are  these  Americans?"  Aguinaldo  is  reported 
to  ask,  "  these  people  who  talk  so  much  of  freedom  and 
justice  and  the  rights  of  man,  who  crowd  into  our  islands 
and  who  stand  as  the  Spaniards  did  between  us  and  our 
liberties?" 

What  right  have  we  indeed  ?  The  right  of  purchase 
from  Spain.  We  held  Spain  by  the  throat  and  she  could 
not  choose  but  sell. 

If,  at  the  close  of  our  Revolutionary  War,  the  King  of 
France,  coming  in  at  the  eleventh  hour  and  driving  the 
English  from  our  capital,  had  bought  a  quit-claim  deed  to 
the  colonies,  proposing  to  retain  them  in  the  interest  of 
French  commerce,  he  would  have  held  exactly  the  posi- 
tion in  which  our  administration  has  placed  the  United 
States- 


66  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

In  that  case  George  Washington  would  have  insisted, 
as  Aguinaldo  has  done,  that  only  the  people  who  own  it 
have  any  sovereignty  to  sell.  He  would  have  held  his 
people's  land 'against  allcomers,  not  the  least  against  his 
late  allies.  He  might  even  have  led  a  hope  as  foolish 
and  forlorn  as  that  which  inspired  the  late  pitiful  attack 
upon  our  forces  at  Manila,  if,  indeed,  there  was  such  an 
attack,  for  there  is  not  the  slightest  evidence  that  hos- 
tilities were  begun  by  Aguinaldo. 

The  blood  shed  at  Manila  will  rest  heavy  on  those  the 
people  hold  responsible  for  it.  There  is  not  the  slight- 
est doubt  where  this  responsibility  rests.  A  little  court- 
esy, a  little  tact,  on  the  part  of  those  in  power,  would 
have  spared  us  from  it  all.  These  men  have  not  led  a 
forlorn  fight  against  Spain  for  all  these  years  to  be  tamely 
snubbed  and  shoved  aside  as  dogs  or  rebels  at  the  end. 
If  the  President  had  assured  Aguinaldo  that  his  people 
would  not  be  absorbed  against  their  will,  there  would 
have  been  peace  at  Manila.  If  he  had  assured  the 
people  of  the  United  States  that  no  vassal  lands  would 
be  annexed  against  their  will,  there  would  be  peace  at 
Washington.  The  President  has  no  right  to  assume  in 
speech  or  in  act  that  the  United  States  proposes  to 
prove  false  to  her  own  pledges  or  false  to  her  own  his- 
tory. Unlike  the  fighting  editor,  he  is  sworn  to  uphold 
the  Constitution. 

If  we  may  trust  the  record,  Aguinaldo  became  our  ally 
in  good  faith,  in  the  belief  that  we  were  working  with 
him  for  the  freedom  of  his  people.  In  good  faith  our 
consuls  made  him  promises  we  have  never  repudiated, 
but  which,  after  six  months  of  silence,  by  the  casting  vote 
of  our  Vice- President,  we  refuse  to  make  good.  These 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  6/ 

promises  were  in  line  with  our  pledges  to  Cuba.  The 
consuls,  like  Aguinaldo,  supposed  that  we  meant  what 
we  said.  When  we  pledged  ourselves  to  give  up  the 
prisoners  he  had  taken  we  acknowledged  him  as  our 
ally ;  and  our  threats  to  arrest  him,  for  holding  his 
prisoners,  as  shown  in  the  published  correspondence 
brought  on  the  present  wanton  bloodshed.  In  any 
case,  we  should  have  lost  nothing  through  courteous 
treatment,  and  our  dignity  as  a  nation  would  not  have 
suffered  even  though  a  civil  hearing  had  been  given  to 
his  envoy,  Agoncillo.  It  may  be  that  Agoncillo  is  a 
coward  as  our  newspapers  picture  him,  but  that  should 
not  make  him  lonesome  in  Washington. 

We  know  nothing  of  Philippine  matters,  save  through 
cablegrams  passed  through  government  censorship,  and 
from  the  letters  and  speech  of  men  of  the  army  and  navy. 
The  letters  and  cablegrams  do  not  always  tell  the  same 
story.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  General  Otis  has  been 
promoted  for  gallantry  at  the  slaughter  of  the  fifth  of 
February  and  in  the  subsequent  skirmishes  which  have 
left  20,000  natives  homeless.  This  is  right,  if  he  acted 
under  orders,  for  a  soldier  must  obey.  If  he  acted  on  his 
own  motion,  he  should  have  been  cashiered.  He  should 
neither  have  provoked  nor  permitted  a  conflict  if  any 
leniency  or  diplomacy  could  have  prevented  it.  Even 
taking  the  most  selfish  view  possible  as  to  our  plans,  their 
success  must  depend  on  our  retention  of  the  respect  and 
good  will  of  the  subject  people. 

If  the  Filipinos  are  our  subjects,  they  have  the  right 
to  be  heard  before  condemnation.  If  they  are  our  allies, 
they  have  the  right  to  be  heard  before  repudiation. 
Their  rights  are  older  than  ours.  It  was  their  struggle 


68  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

for  freedom  before  most  of  our  people  had  even  heard 
of  their  existence.  We  may  treat  these  matters  as  we 
will,  but,  in  the  light  of  history,  we  shall  appear  with  the 
tyrant  and  the  coward,  and  our  act  be  the  fit  conclusion 
of  the  "century  of  dishonor."  "The  wreck  of  broken 
promises,"  says  General  Miles,  referring  to  our  Indian 
treaties,  "  is  strewn  across  the  United  States  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific."  We  have  broken  the  record 
now  for  we  have  extended  it  to  the  Orient.  "  Why  is 
it,"  a  friend  once  asked  General  Crooks,  "  that  you  have 
such  influence  with  the  Indians  ?  "  "  Because  I  always 
keep  my  word,"  was  the  reply. 

To  be  sure  Aguinaldo  may  not  be  much  of  a  Wash- 
ington, a  Washington  of  the  hen-roost  type,  perhaps,  as 
the  brigand  patriots  of  Spanish  colonies  have  been  in 
the  past.  As  to  this  we  have  not  much  right  to  speak. 
We  have  never  heard  his  side  of  the  case,  and  we  have 
listened  only  to  Spanish  testimony.  It  is  worthy  of  note 
that  our  returned  officers  from  Manila,  who  are  men  com- 
petent to  judge,  speak  of  him  in  terms  of  the  highest 
respect.  His  government,  which  we  try  to  destroy,  is 
the  most  capable,  enlightened  and  just  these  islands 
have  ever  known.  These  germs  of  civic  liberty  constitute 
the  most  precious  product  of  the  Philippines.  But  what- 
ever his  character  or  motives,  he  has  one  great  advant- 
age which  Washington  possessed — he  is  in  the  right. 
By  that  fact  he  is  changed  from  an  adventurer,  a  soldier 
of  fortune,  into  a  hero,  an  instrument  of  destiny.  If 
Aguinaldo  betrays  his  people  by  selling  out  to  us,  the 
heroism  of  the  people  remains.  When  men  die  for  in- 
dependence there  is  somewhere  a  hero.  Self-sacrifice 
for  an  idea  means  some  fitness  for  self-government. 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  69 

Whatever  we  may  choose  to  do  Aguinaldo  is  a  factor, 
and  our  sovereignty  over  his  islands  must  be  gained 
through  peaceful  concession,  if  it  is  gained  at  all.  We 
could  crush  Aguinaldo  easily  enough,  but  we  dare  not. 
"  Instans  tyrannus  !  "  However  feeble  he  may  be  while 
we  run  our  fires  around  "  his  creep-hole  "  he  has  only  to 
"  clutch  at  God's  skirts,"  as  in  Browning's  poem,  and  it 
is  we  who  are  afraid.  This  great,  strong,  lusty  nation  is 
too  brave  to  do  a  cowardly  deed.*  In  spite  of  the  orgies 
of  our  newspapers,  we  are  still  bothered  by  a  national 
conscience.  We  do  not  like  to  fight  in  foreign  lands 
against  women  with  cropped  hair  defending  their  own 
homes ;  against  naked  savages  with  bows  and  arrows, 
nor  in  battles  likened  to  a  Colorado  rabbit  drive. 

The  Filipinos  are  not  rebels  against  law  and  order,  but 
against  alien  control.  As  a  republic  under  our  protec- 
tion, or  without  it,  I  am  informed,  they  stood  apparently 
ready  to  give  us  any  guarantee  we  might  ask  as  to  order 
and  security. 

We  may  easily  destroy  the  organized  army  of  the 
Filipinos,  but  that  does  not  bring  peace.  In  the  cliffs  and 
jungles  they  will  defy  us  for  a  century  as  they  have  defied 
Spain.  According  to  Dewey,  the  Filipinos  are  "  fighters 
from  away  back."  These  four  words  from  Dewey  mean 
more  than  forty  would  from  an  ordinary  warrior.  In 
Sumatra  it  has  cost  the  Dutch  upwards  of  300,000  men 
to  subdue  Achin,  a  peninsula  with  a  total  population  es- 
timated at  328,000,  and  its  native  chieftains  are  still 
defiant.  Three  hundred  thousand  men,  of  whom  two- 

*  I  let  this  stand  as  originally  written.  While  we  have  carried 
on  relentless  war  in  Luzon  neither  the  American  people  nor  their 
congress  have  been  consulted  in  regard  to  it. 


70  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

thirds  rotted  in  the  swamps,  never  seeing  a  foe  or  a 
battle.  Our  people  are  ashamed  of  shame,  and  their  eyes 
once  opened  they  cannot  be  coaxed  nor  driven. 

Let  us  consider  the  first  of  our  propositions.  Why 
do  we  want  the  Philippines?  To  this  I  can  give  no 
answer  of  my  own.  I  can  see  not  one  valid  reason  why 
we  should  want  them,  nor  any  why  they  should  want  us, 
except  as  strong  and  friendly  advisers.  As  vassals  of  the 
United  States  they  have  no  future  before  them ;  as  citizens 
they  have  no  hope.  But  even  if  we  could  by  kind  pater- 
nalism make  their  lives  happier  or  more  effective,  I  am 
sure  that  we  will  not.  Our  philanthropy  is  less  than  skin 
'  deep.  The  syndicates  waiting  to  exploit  the  islands, 
and  incidentally  to  rob  their  own  stockholders,  are  not 
interested  in  the  moral  uplifting  of  negroes  and  "  dagoes." 
On  the  other  hand  I  am  sure  that  their  possession  can 
in  no  wise  help  us,  not  even  financially  or  commercially. 

The  movement  for  colonial  extension  rests  on  two 
things :  Persistent  forgetfulness  of  the  principles  of 
democratic  government  on  the  one  hand;  hopeless 
ignorance  of  the  nature  of  the  tropics  and  its  people  on 
the  other. 

But  while  I  give  no  reason  of  my  own,  I  have  listened 
carefully  to  the  speech  of  others,  and  the  voices  I  have 
heard  are  legion.  Their  opinions  I  shall  try  in  a  way  to 
classify,  with  a.  word  of  comment  on  each.  And,  first,  I 
place  those  which  claim  some  sort  of  moral  validity, 
though  I  acknowledge  no  basis  for  such  claim.  For  the 
only  morality  a  nation  can  know  is  justice.  To  be  fair 
as  between  man  and  man,  to  look  after  mutual  interests 
and  to  do  those  necessary  things  out  of  reach  of  the  indiv- 
idual is  the  legitimate  function  of  a  nation.  It  cannot 


A   BLIND    MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  7 1 

be  generous,  because  it  has  no  rights  of  its  own  of  which 
it  can  make  sacrifice.  Moral  obligations  belong  to  its 
people  as  individuals.  Legal  obligations,  financial  obli- 
gations, the  pledges  of  treaties,  only  these  can  bind  na- 
tion to  nation.  A  nation  cannot  be  virtuous,  for  that 
is  a  matter  of  individual  conduct.  Itm'ust  be  just.  So 
far  as  it  fails  to  be  this,  it  is  simply  corrupt. 

It  is^aid  that  if  we  do  not  annex  the  Philippines  we 
shall  prove  false  to  our  obligations.  Obviously  there  are 
two  primary  pledges  which  must  precede  all  others; 
first  the  obligation  of  our  whole  history  that  we  shall 
never  conquer  and  annex  an  unwilling  people ;  second, 
our  pledge  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  that  the  United 
States  has  no  disposition  to^seize  territory  or  to  dictate 
its  government. 

"  The  United  States  hereby  disclaims  any  disposition  or  inten- 
tion to  exercise  sovereignty,  jurisdiction,  or  control  over  said 
island,  except  for  the  pacification  thereof,  and  asserts  its  deter- 
mination when  that  is  accomplished  to  leave  the  government  and 
control  of  the  island  to  its  people." 

The  plea  that  these  words  were  intended  for  Cuba 
only  and  do  not  pledge  us  to  like  action  elsewhere  is  too 
cowardly  to  permit  of  discussion. 

Several  questions  arise  at  once.  What  are  those 
obligations?  To  whom  are  they  held?  By  what  re- 
sponsibility have  they  been  incurred  ? 

To  the  first  question  we  may  get  this  answer :  We 
are  under  obligations  to  see  that  the  Philippines  are  no 
longer  subject  to  Spanish  tyranny  and  misrule.  In  the 
words  of  General  Miles,  "  Twelve  millions  of  people  that 
a  year  ago  were  suffering  under  oppression,  tyranny,  and 


72  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

cruelty  are  to-day  under  our  protection.  It  would  be 
the  crime  of  the  nineteenth  century  to  turn  them  back 
again."  Very  well,  then,  we  shall  not  turn  them  back, 
nor  could  we  do  it  if  we  would.  Spain  is  helpless  and 
harmless.  She  has  ceased  to  be  a  factor  in  the  world's 
affairs.  What  next  ?  Let  us  quote  further  from  General 
Miles  :  "  If  you  cannot  give  them  government  in  their 
own  country,  if  you  cannot  establish  government  for 
them,  you  can,  at  least,  protect  them  until  such  time  as 
they  shall  be  prepared  for  self-government.  And  if  they 
do  not  care  to  come  and  be  part  of  this  country  you 
can  see  to  it  that  they  have  a  liberal  and  free  govern- 
ment such  as  you  enjoy  yourselves." 

This  is,  perhaps,  an  average  statement  of  our  supposed 
obligations.  If  we  had  adopted  this  view  we  should 
have  had  no  war  at  Manila  and  our  honor  would  be  un- 
tarnished. Some  would  put  it  more  strongly.  Our 
obligations  demand  that  we  take  the  islands  by  force, 
lest  they  fall  back  into  the  hands  of  Spain,  or,  still  worse, 
lest  they  become  victims  of  the  cruel  schemes  of  the 
German  Emperor,  ever  anxious  to  try  his  hand  on  mat- 
ters of  which  he  knows  nothing.  For  the  House  of 
Hohenzollern,  as  well  as  ourselves,  is  afflicted  with  a 
"  manifest  destiny." 

But  this  German  bugaboo  is  set  up  merely  as  an  ex- 
cuse. No  nation  on  earth  would  dare  set  the  heel  of 
oppression  on  any  land  our  flag  has  made  free.  The 
idea  that  every  little  nation  must  be  subject  to  some 
great  one  is  one  of  the  most  contemptible  products  of 
military  commercialism.  No  nation,  little  or  big,  is 
"derelict"  that  minds  its  own  business,  maintains  law 
and  order,  and  respects  the  development  of  its  own 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  73 

people.  If  we  behave  honorably  towards  the  people  we 
have  freed,  we  shall  set  a  fashion  which  the  powers  will 
never  dare  to  disregard. 

We  can  be  under  no  obligations  under  our  Constitution 
and  theory  of  government,  to  do  what  cannot  be  done, 
what  will  not  be  done,  or  ought  not  to  be  done. 

Still  others  put  the  case  in  this  way  !  "  We  have 
destroyed  the  only  stable  government  in  the  Philippines. 
It  is  our  duty  to  establish  another."  But  if  this  is  really 
the  case  we  have  done  very  wrong.  We  were  told  that 
the  rule  of  Spain  was  not  stable,  that  it  was  not  just,  and 
that  it  was  far  worse  than  no  rule  at  all.  Our  sympathies 
were  with  those  who  would  destroy  this  government  of 
Spain,  and  our  armies  went  out  with  our  sympathies* 
Either  we  were  on  the  wrong  side  in  the  whole  business, 
or  else  we  should  now  respect  the  rights  of  the  people  we 
set  forth  to  help.  If,  by  ill  chance,  we  have  overturned 
the  only  stable  government,  we  must  help  the  people  to 
make  another.  "  A  government  of  the  people,  for  the 
people,  and  by  the  people,"  would  be  a  good  kind  to 
help  them  to  establish ;  one  made  in  their  own  interest 
not  in  ours,  even  though  we  think  them  a  sorry  sort  of 
folk.  We  should  not  talk  in  the  same  breath  of  our  duty 
to  humanity  and  of  the  demands  of  American  commerce, 
not  even  though  both  speeches  be  canting  falsehoods. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  of  all  the  people  of  the  tropics  the 
inhabitants  of  Luzon  have  shown  most  promise  of  fairly 
wise  self-rule.  All  competent  judges  speak  in  the  highest 
terms  of  the  cabinet  and  parliament  at  Malolos  and  of 
their  wisdom  and  self-restraint.  At  the  same  time  under 
whatever  rule,  these  people  will  not  cease  to  be  orientals. 

To  better  define  these  obligations  let  us  find  out  to 


74  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

whom  they  were  incurred.  Nobody  in  particular  lays 
claim  to  them.  Surely  we  are  not  bound  to  Spain,  for 
she  feels  outraged  and  humiliated  by  the  whole  transac- 
tion. The  Filipinos  ask  for  nothing  more  of  us. 
Doubtless  their  rulers  would  return  our  twenty  millions 
and  give  us  half  a  dozen  coaling  stations  if  that  would 
hasten  our  departure.  It  is  their  firm  resolve,  so  their 
spokesmen  in  Hong  Kong  have  declared,  that  they  will 
not  consent  "  to  be  experimented  upon  by  amateur 
colonial  administrators."  Even  our  "  benevolent  assimi- 
lation "  is  intolerable  on  the  terms  which  we  demand. 

It  was  for  freedom,  not  for  law  and  order,  that  the 
Filipinos  and  the  Cubans  took  up  arms  against  Spain. 
Good  order  we  are  trying  to  bring  to  the  Filipinos,  but 
that  does  not  satisfy.  The  grave  is  quiet,  but  it  is  not 
freedom.  Perhaps  it  is  wrong  for  these  people  to  care 
for  freedom,  but  we  once  set  them  the  example,  as  we 
have  to  many  poor  people,  to  strive  for  a  liberty  they 
have  never  yet  enjoyed. 

More  likely  we  owe  obligations  to  the  city  of  Manila. 
Her  business  men  look  with  doubt  on  Aguinaldo  and  his 
cabinet,  with  gold  bands  and  whistles  and  peacock 
quills  to  indicate  their  rank  and  titles.  Doubtless  they 
fear  the  native  rabble  and  the  native  methods  of  col- 
lection of  customs.  But,  again,  we  have  as  to  this  only 
prejudiced  testimony.  According  to  Lieutenant  Calkins, 
an  honored  officer  in  Dewey's  fleet,  the  life  and  property 
of  foreigners  has  been  as  safe  in  Malolos  as  in  San  Fran- 
cisco. Moreover,  these  peddlers  from  all  the  world  have 
no  claims  on  us.  They  have  long  fished  in  troubled 
waters  and  they  have  learned  the  art.  The  pound  of 
flesh  they  have  exacted  from  the  Filipinos,  in  times  of 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  75 

peace  serves  as  an  insurance  against  all  losses  in  war. 
It  was  not  to  accommodate  a  few  petty  tradesmen,  for  the 
most  part  Chinese,  a  few  English,  and  a  dozen  Germans 
and  Japanese,  that  we  entered  into  this  war.  If  we  owe 
them  protection,  they  owe  something  to  us.  The 
shelter  of  the  American  flag  is  the  birthright  of  Ameri- 
cans. Maybe  it  is  to  Germany  and  France  that  we  owe 
obligations.  To  keep  their  rulers  from  falling  out  over 
the  rich  spoils  of  the  Philippines,  we  are  under  bonds  to 
take  them  all  ourselves.  But  these  nations  are  not  in 
the  slightest  danger  of  righting  each  other  or  fighting  us 
over  the  Philippines.  The  Philippines  would  be  as  safe 
as  an  independent  republic,  with  our  good  will,  as  they 
would  be  in  another  planet.  The  huge  bloodless  com- 
mercial trusts  are  afraid  of  a  nation  with  a  conscience. 
Maybe  we  are  under  bonds  to  England  alone.  Her 
advice  is  "  take  it,"  "  take  it,"  and  those  of  her  politi- 
cians hitherto  most  prone  to  snub  and  humiliate  us  are 
now  most  loud  in  their  encouragements.  No  doubt 
these  clever  schemers  want  to  see  us  entangled  in  the 
troubles  of  the  Orient.  No  doubt  England  is  sincere  in 
thinking  that  a  few  years'  experience  in  the  hardest  of 
schools  will  teach  us  something  to  our  advantage  as  well 
as  to  hers.  In  our  compactness  lies  a  strength  which 
alarms  even  England.  It  means  our  future  financial  and 
commercial  supremacy.  It  is  England's  way  to  play 
nation  against  nation,  so  that  the  strong  ones  will  keep 
the  peace,  while  the  weaker  ones  are  helpless  in  her 
hands. 

The  essential  spirit  of  British  diplomacy  is  to  rec- 
ognize neither  morality  nor  justice  in  relation  to  an 
opponent.  This  has  been  explained  and  defended  by 


76  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

Chamberlain  as  a  matter  of  course  in  questions  of  party 
rivalry  or  imperial  dominion.  The  only  wrong  is  failure 
to  carry  one's  point.  This  feature  of  British  diplomacy 
has  been  exemplified  a  hundred  times.  The  career  of 
Cecil  Rhodes,  the  struggle  with  Parnell,  the  Paris  Tri- 
bunal of  Arbitration  in  1893,  are  all  cases  in  point. 
This  gives  the  clue  to  British  diplomatic  success,  and  it 
explains  also  the  cordial  hatred  the  world  over  for 
"  Anglo-Saxon"  methods.  From  beginning  to  end  of 
British  colonial  dealings  with  lower  races  there  has  never 
appeared  the  word  nor  the  thought  of  justice  in  the 
sense  in  which  our  fathers  used  the  word — equality  before 
the  law.  Law  and  trade  constitute  her  sole  interest 
in  tropical  humanity,  and  law  for  trade.  Paternal 
helpfulness  there  has  been  in  large  store,  but  the  thought 
of  human  equality,  in  any  sense  of  the  term,  is  foreign  to 
British  methods.  To  emphasize  and  perpetuate  in- 
equality lies  at  the  basis  of  British  polity. 

To  give  up  the  idea  of  "  equality  of  all  men  before  the 
law  "  would  be  to  abandon  our  sole  excuse  for  being  as 
a  nation.  We  would  then  become  a  mere  geographical 
expression  or  police  arrangement,  and  logically  might  as 
well  join  Canada  as  a  dependency  of  Great  Britain.  The 
hope  that  we  may  do  so  is  the  source  of  much  English 
"  good-will." 

If  we  feel  edgewise  toward  Germany,*  or  if  Germany 
is  unfriendly  toward  us,  we  have  England  to  thank  for 
it.  That  is  her  diplomacy.  She  means  nothing  wrong 

• 

*  Doubtless  German  industrial  jealousy  is  acute  and  well- 
grounded  and  the  loss  of  many  good  soldiers  each  year  by  emi- 
gration displeases  German  militarism.  But  these  matters  have 
gone  on  for  years  and  have  no  relation  with  the  war  with  Spain. 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  77 

by  it.  She  is  our  friend,  and  in  politics  no  water  is 
thicker  than  her  blood.  We  shall  cease  twisting  the 
British  Lion's  tail  when  we  have  parts  equally  vulnerable. 
We  shall  not  thwart  England  when  we  are  dependent 
upon  her  good  will.  But  all  this  constitutes  no  obliga- 
tion. We  did  not  go  into  the  war  on  England's  account, 
nor  must  we  settle  it  to  suit  her.  It  is  our  first  duty  to 
follow  our  own  best  interests. 

I  yield  to  no  one  in  admiration  for  the  British  people 
or  the  British  character.  The  best  thoughts  of  the 
world  spring  from  British  brains,  and  British  hands  have 
wrought  earth's  noblest  deeds.  "  Let  us  not  forget," 
observes  Lowell,  "  that  England  is  not  the  England  only 
of  the  snobs  who  dread  the  democracy  they  do  not  com- 
prehend, but  the  England  of  history,  of  heroes,  states- 
men and  poets,  whose  names  are  as  dear  and  their 
influence  as  salutary  to  us  as  to  her."  But  British  ine- 
quality is  not  the  source  of  lofty  thought  or  brave  deed. 
We  may  emulate  England  in  all  matters  of  political  ad- 
ministration save  the  very  one  in  which  she  now  urges 
onus  her  cynical  advice.  It  was  in  protest  against  Brit- 
ish inequality  that  the  United  States  became  a  nation. 
British  politics  have  changed  their  form,  but  the  basal 
principles  remain,  and  inequality  and  injustice  are  no 
more  lovely  now  than  in  the  days  of  '76. 

A  London  journal  recently  pictures  America  as  a  rosy- 
cheeked,  unsophisticated  youth  who  has  left  parental 
boundaries  and  now  "  goes  out  to  see  the  world."  We 
may  accept  this  "  lightly  proffered  laurel,"  but  we  may 
note  that  the  youth  is  gaining  this  experience  under  the 
convoy  of  the  toughest  old  pirate  of  the  whole  water 
front. 


78  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

Moreover,  England  welcomes  our  intrusion  in  the 
Orient  because  she  finds  in  us  a  necessary  ally.  We 
become  a  partner  in  her  games.  More  than  this  our 
new  relations  must  break  down  our  protective  tariff, 
which  is  most  offensive  to  her,  as,  perhaps,  it  should  be 
to  us.  The  possession  of  Asiatic  colonies  makes  non- 
sense of  our  Monroe  Doctrine.  To  realize  this  fact  will 
teach  us  needed  caution.  We  shall  not  go  at  diplomacy 
in  our  shirt-sleeves  any  more  as  though  it  were  a  game 
of  poker  on  a  Mississippi  flat-boat.  Besides  to  follow  in 
England's  footsteps  is  the  sincerest  form  of  flattery.  It 
gives  her  methods  the  sanction  of  our  respectability.  It 
takes  from  the  opposition  party  in  Parliament  one  of  its 
strongest  weapons.  But  this,  again,  is  no  national  obli- 
gation. If  any  obligation  whatever  exists,  it  is  to  the 
Filipinos.  It  is  met  by  insuring  their  freedom  from 
Spain.  For  the  rest,  their  fate  is  their  own. 

A  higher  class  of  English  public  men  advise  us  to  hold 
the  Philippines  because  they  do  not  understand  the  pur- 
pose or  basis  of  our  government.  Our  machinery  of 
rule  is  so  constructed  that  it  will  not  work  with  unwilling 
people,  nor  with  people  lacking  in  the  Saxon  instinct 
for  co-operation.  England  has  no  scruples  and  no 
ideals.  Her  only  purpose,  in  the  tropics,  is  to  hold  the 
doors  open  to  trade.  In  this  business  she  has  the  lead, 
and  all  gains  of  all  trade  swell  her  wealth.  In  her  cap- 
ital is  the  clearing  house  of  all  the  world.  There  all 
prices  are  fixed  and  all  bills  are  settled.  What  is  good 
business  for  her  might  be  impossible  for  us,  who  are 
not  as  a  nation  in  business. 

Admitting,  however,  an  obligation  to  do  something  to 
somebody,  by  whom  was  such  obligation  incurred?  To 


A  BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  79 

whom  have  we  given  authority  to  bind  us  to  change  the 
whole  current  of  our  history?  Who  is  the  mighty  agent 
that  brings  about  such  things?  The  Constitution  pre- 
scribes methods  in  which  our  people  may  incur  obliga- 
tions by  concurrent  action  of  Congress  and  the  President. 
Have  we  empowered  a  commodore  or  even  a  rear-ad- 
miral to  change  our  national  purposes  ?  Did  the  victory 
at  Manila  bind  our  people  to  anything  ?  To  say  that  it 
did  is  simple  nonsense.  This  was  an  incident  of  war, 
not  a  decision  of  peace.  Did  the  action  of  the  Presi- 
dent in  sending  eighteen  thousand  soldiers  to  Manila 
oblige  us  to  keep  them  there,  even  if  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  had  to  be  changed  to  give  this  act 
justification?  If  so,  where  did  the  President  get  his 
authority?  This,  too,  was  an  incident  of  war.  More- 
over, the  President  is  not  our  ruler  but  our  servant.  The 
people  of  the  United  States  are  subject  to  no  obligations 
save  those  they  impose  on  themselves.  Neither  the 
President  nor  the  Cabinet  have  the  slightest  right  to  in- 
cur national  obligations.  None  have  been  incurred. 

But  it  may  be  that  efforts  have  been  made  to  bind 
the  people  to  "  expansion"  in  advance  of  their  own  de- 
cision. The  victory  at  Manila  was  so  unexpected,  so 
heroic,  so  decisive,  that  it  fired  the  imagination  of  our 
nation.  It  set  the  world  to  talking  of  us,  and  it  in- 
spired our  politicians  with  dreams  of  empire.  Such 
dreams  are  far  from  the  waking  thoughts  of  our  people, 
though  while  the  spell  was  on  us  we  made  some  move- 
ment toward  turning  them  into  action.  These  steps 
taken  in  folly  our  nation  must  retrace.  It  is  not  pleas- 
ant to  go  backward.  For  this  reason  those  responsible 
for  our  mistakes  insist  that  we  are  sworn  to  go  ahead 


8O  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

whatever  the  consequences.  Political  futures  are  in- 
volved in  the  success  of  these  schemes.  And  so  every 
effort  has  been  used  to  rush  us  forward  in  the  direction 
of  conquest.  Our  volunteer  soldiery  is  held  as  an  army 
of  invasion  to  rot  in  the  marshes  when  summer  comes, 
as  brave  men  once  rotted  in  Libby  and  Andersonville. 
Each  step  in  the  series  has  been  planned  so  as  to  make 
the  next  seem  inevitable.  To  stop  to  reconsider  our 
steps  is  made  to  appear  as  backing  down.  The  Ameri- 
can people  will  not  back  down,  and  on  this  fact  the 
whole  movement  depends.  This  movement  was  not  a 
conspiracy,  because  every  step  was  proclaimed  from  the 
housetops  and  shouted  back  from  the  newspapers  and 
the  mobs  around  the  railway  stations.  No  wonder  the 
fighting  editor  claims  to  dictate  our  national  policy.  The 
current  of  "  manifest  destiny  "  is  invoked  as  the  cover 
for  the  movement  of  Imperialism.  At  each  step,  too, 
the  powers  that  be  assure  us  that  they  are  not  responsi- 
ble, for  the  invisible  forces  of  Divine  Providence  have 
taken  matters  from  their  hands. 

In  the  one  breath  we  are  told  that  it  is  the  will  of 
God  that  we  should  annex  the  Philippines  and  make 
civilized  American  Christians  of  their  medley  popula- 
tion. In  another,  we  must  crush  out  the  usurper, 
Aguinaldo,  drive  his  rebel  followers  to  the  swamps  and 
fastnesses  and  build  up  institutions  with  the  coward 
remnant  that  survive. 

All  this  is  in  the  line  of  least  resistance.  Along  this 
line  Spain  ruled  and  plundered  her  colonies.  In  such 
fashion  her  colonies  impoverished  and  corrupted  Spain. 
Because  she  had  no  moral  force  to  prevent  them,  cruelty 
and  corruption  became  her  manifest  destiny.  It  will 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  8 1 

be  ours  if  we  follow  her  methods.  Toward  such  a  man- 
ifest destiny,  "  the  tumult  and  the  shouting  "  of  to-day 
are  hurrying  us  along.  The  destiny  which  is  manifest 
is  never  a  noble  one.  The  strong  currents  of  history 
run  deep,  and  the  fates  never  speak  through  the  daily 
newspapers.  "  Hard  are  the  steps,  rough-hewn  in  flint- 
iest rock,  States  climb  to  power  by."  Providence  acts 
only  through  men  with  strong  brain  and  pure  heart. 
The  hand  of  Providence  is  never  at  the  helm  when  no 
hand  of  man  is  there.  Nations  like  men  must  learn  to 
say  No,  when  Yes  is  fatal.  To  have  the  courage  to  stop 
throwing  good  money  after  bad  is  the  way  nations  keep 
out  of  bankruptcy.  To  back  out  now,  we  are  told, 
would  expose  us  to  the  ridicule  of  all  the  nations.  But 
to  go  on  will  do  the  same.  It  is  we  who  have  made 
ourselves  ridiculous.  We  have  already  roused  the  real 
distress  of  all  genuine  friends  in  Europe,  because  we 
have  given  the  lie  to  our  own  history  and  to  our  own 
professions.  That  a  wise,  strong,  peaceful  nation  should 
rise  and  fight  for  the  freedom  of  the  oppressed,  rescuing 
them  with  one  strong  blow,  touches  the  imagination  of 
the  world.  The  admiration  fades  into  disgust  in  view/ 
of  the  vulgar  scramble  for  territory  and  commercial  ad-| 
vantage,  and  the  inability  of  those  responsible  to  guide 
the  course  of  events  in  any  safe  direction. 

I  know  that  words  of  this  sort  are  not  welcome.  The 
newspapers  have  their  jokes  about  Senator  Hoar  and 
Cassandra,  a  person  who  once  took  a  dark  view  of  things 
in  very  gloomy  times.  But  there  are  occasions  when 
optimism  is  treason.  Only  an  accomplice  is  cheerful  in 
presence  of  a  crime.  The  crisis  once  past  we  may  rejoice 
in  the  future  of  democracy.  It  is  a  hopeful  sign  to-day 


82  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

that  the  people  have  never  consented,  nor  have  those 
directing  affairs  dared  trust  the  plain  issue  of  annexation 
either  to  the  people  or  to  Congress.  Their  schemes 
must  pass  through  indirection,  or  not  at  all. 

We  need  a  cheerful  and  successful  brigand  like  Cecil 
Rhodes  to  pat  us  on  the  back  and  stiffen  our  failing 
nerves.  He  is  not  afraid.  Why  should  we  flinch  from 
the  little  misdeeds  we  have  in  contemplation? 

Alfred  Russell  Wallace,  in  the  London  Chronicle,  ex- 
presses the 

"  Disappointment  and  sorrow  which  I  feel  in  common,  I  am 
sure,  with  a  large  body  of  English  and  Americans,  at  the  course 
now  being  pursued  by  the  government  of  the  United  States 
toward  the  people  of  Cuba  and  the  Philippine  Islands. 

"  The  Americans  claim  the  right  of  sovereignty  obtained  by 
the  treaty,  and  have  apparently  determined  to  occupy  and  ad- 
minister the  whole  group  of  islands  against  the  will  and  consent 
of  the  people.  They  claim  all  the  revenues  of  the  country  and 
all  the  public  means  of  transport  and  they  have  decided  to  take 
all  this  by  military  force  if  the  natives  do  not  at  once  submit. 
Yet  they  say  that  they  come  '  not  as  invaders  and  conquerors,, 
but  as  friends,  to  protect  the  natives  in  their  homes,  their  em- 
ployments and  their  personal  and  civil  rights,'  and  for  the  pur- 
pose of  giving  them  '  a  liberal  form  of  government  through 
representatives  of  their  own  race.'  But  these  people  who  have 
been  justly  struggling  for  freedom  are  still  spoken  of  as  'insur- 
gents '  or  '  rebels,'  and  they  are  expected  to  submit  quietly  to  an 
altogether  new  and  unknown  foreign  rule  which,  whatever  may 
be  the  benevolent  intentions  of  the  President,  can  hardly  fail  to 
be  a  more  or  less  oppressive  despotism. 

"  It  may  be  asked  what  can  the  Americans  do  ?  They  cannot 
allow  Spain  to  come  back  again.  .  .  .  They  are  responsible  for 
the  future  of  the  inhabitants.  But  surely  it  is  possible  to  revert 
to  their  first  expressed  intention  of  taking  a  small  island  only  as 
a  naval  and  coaling  station  and  to  declare  themselves  the  pro- 
tectors of  the  islands  against  foreign  aggression. 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  83 

"  Having  done  this  they  might  invite  the  civilized  portion  of 
the  natives  to  form  an  independent  government,  offering  them 
advice  and  assistance  if  they  wish  for  it,  but  otherwise  leaving 
them  completely  free.  If  we  express  our  disappointment  (as 
Englishmen)  that  our  American  kinsfolk  are  apparently  follow- 
ing our  example,  it  is  because,  in  the  matter  of  the  rights  of 
every  people  to  govern  themselves,  we  had  looked  up  to  them  as 
about  to  show  us  the  better  way  by  respecting  the  aspirations 
towards  freedom,  even  of  less  advanced  races,  and  by  acting  in 
accordance  with  their  own  noble  traditions  and  republican 
principles." 

From  France,  M.  de  Pressensee  voices  the  same  feel- 
ing in  an  article  in  the  Contemporary  Review  : 

"  In  the  United  States  of  America  we  see  the  intoxication  of 
the  new  strong  wine  of  warlike  glory  carrying  a  great  democracy 
off  its  feet,  and  raising  the  threatening  specter  of  militarism, 
with  its  fatal  attendant,  Cassarism,  in  the  background.  Under 
the  pretext  of  '  manifest  destiny,'  the  great  republic  of  the  West- 
ern Hemisphere  is  becoming  unfaithful  to  the  principles  of  her 
founders,  to  the  precedents  of  her  constitutional  life,  to  the  tradi- 
tions which  have  made  her  free,  glorious  and  prosperous.  The 
seductions  of  Imperialism  are  drawing  the  United  States  toward 
the  abyss  where  all  the  great  democracies  of  the  world  have 
found  their  end.  The  cant  of  Anglo-Saxon  alliance,  of  the 
brotherhood-in-arms  of  English-speaking  people,  is  serving  as  a 
cloak  to  the  nefarious  designs  of  those  who  want  to  cut  in  two 
the  grand  motto  of  Great  Britain,  '  Imperium  et  Libertas,'  and  to 
make  '  imperium  '  swrallow  '  libertas.'  In  the  United  Kingdom  a 
similar  tendency  is  at  work.  Everybody  sees  that  the  present 
England  is  no  longer  the  England,  I  do  not  say  of  Cobden  or 
Bright,  but  of  Peel,  Russell,  Palmerston,  Derby,  or  even  Disraeli. 
A  kind  of  intoxication  of  power  has  seized  the  people.  Mr. 
Chamberlain  has  known  how  to  take  the  flood  in  time,  and  to 
ride  the  crest  of  the  new  wave.  The  Unionist  party  is  disposed 
to  believe  that  it  is  to  the  interest  of  the  privileged  classes  to 
nurse  the  pride  of  empire ;  first,  because  they  govern  it  and  pro- 
fit by  it ;  secondly,  and  chiefly,  because  nothing  diverts  more 


84  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

surely  the  spirit  of  reform  than  the  imperialist  madness.  It  is  a 
curious  thing,  but  a  fact  beyond  dispute,  that  when  the  masses 
are  on  the  verge  of  rising  in  their  majesty  and  asking  for  their 
rights,  the  classes  have  only  to  throw  into  their  eyes  the  powder 
of  imperialism,  and  to  raise  the  cry  of  '  The  Fatherland  in  dan- 
ger,' in  order  to  bring  them  once  more,  meek  and  submissive,  to 
their  feet." 

Do  we  say  that  these  obligations  were  entailed  by 
chance,  and  that  we  cannot  help  ourselves?  I  hear 
many  saying,  "  If  only  Dewey  had  sailed  out  of  Manila 
harbor,  all  would  have  been  well."  This  seems  to  me 
the  acme  of  weakness.  Dewey  did  his  duty  at  Manila  ; 
he  has  done  his  duty  ever  since.  Let  us  do  ours.  If 
his  duty  makes  it  harder  for  us,  so  much  the  more  we 
must  strive.  It  is  pure  cowardice  to  throw  the  responsi- 
bility on  him.  Who  are  we  to  "  plead  the  baby  act  ?  " 
If  Dewey  captured  land  we  do  not  want  to  hold,  then  let 
go  of  it.  It  is  for  us  to  say,  not  for  him.  It  is  foolish 
to  say  that  our  victory  last  May  settled  once  for  all  our 
future  as  a  world  power.  It  is  not  thus  that  I  read  our 
history.  Chance  decides  nothing.  The  Declaration  of 
Independence,  the  Constitution,  the  Emancipation  Pro- 
clamation, were  not  matters  of  chance.  They  belong  to 
the  category  of  statemanship.  A  statesman  knows  no 
chance.  It  is  his  business  to  foresee  the  future  and  to 
control  it.  Chance  is  the  terror  of  despotism.  A  chance 
shot  along  the  frontier  of  Alsace,  a  chance  brawl  in  Hun- 
gary, a  chance  word  in  Poland,  a  chance  imbecile  in  the 
seat  of  power,  may  throw  all  Europe  into  war.  In  a  general 
war  the  nations  of  Europe,  their  dynasties,  and  their 
thrones,  will  burn  like  stubble  in  the  prairie  fire.  Our 
foundation  is  less  combustible.  Our  Constitution  is 
something  more  than  a  New  Year's  resolution  to  be 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  85 

broken  at  the  first  chance  temptation.  The  Republic  is, 
indeed,  in  the  gravest  peril  if  chance  and  passion  are  to 
be  factors  in  her  destiny.  It  was  not  fear  of  foreign 
powers,  nor  fear  of  destiny  that  led  Senator  Sewell  to 
urge,  last  May  "  For  God's  sake,  bring  Dewey  home." 
It  was  fear  of  the  rising  tide  of  our  own  folly. 

One  of  the  ablest  of  British  public  men,  one  known  to 
all  of  us  as  a  staunch  friend  of  the  United  States  through 
the  Civil  War,  when  our  allies  in  the  present  British  Minis- 
try could  not  conceal  their  hatred  and  contempt,  writes 
in  a  private  letter  to  me  these  words  : 

"  I  could  not  say  this  in  my  public  writings,"  he  says, 
and  so  I  do  not  give  his  name,  "  but  it  seems  to  me  that 
expansionism  has  in  it  a  large  element  of  sheer  vulgarity, 
in  the  shape  of  a  parvenu  desire  for  admission  into  the 
imperialist  and  military  camp  of  the  Old  World." 

This  is  the  whole  story.  Our  quasi-alliance  with 
Aguinaldo  obliges  us  to  see  that  he  and  his  followers 
do  not  rot  in  Spanish  prisons.  Here  or  about  here  our 
obligation  ends,  though  our  interest  in  freedom  might 
go  further.  "Sheer  vulgarity"  does  the  rest.  The 
desire  to  hold  a  new  toy,  to  enjoy  a  new  renown,  to  feel 
a  new  experience,  or  the  baser  desire  to  gain  money  by 
it,  is  at  the  bottom  of  our  talk  about  the  new  destiny  of 
the  American  republic  and  the  new  obligations  which 
this  destiny  entails. 

We  have  set  our  national  heart  on  the  acquisition  of 
the  Philippines  to  give  Old  Glory  a  chance  in  a  distant 
sea,  to  do  something  unheard  of  in  our  past  history.  We 
look  on  every  side  for  justification  of  this  act,  and  the 
varied  excuses  we  can  invent  we  call  our  obligations. 
We  have  saved  Manila  from  being  looted  by  the  bar- 


86  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

barians.  This  may  be  true,  though  we  have  not  the 
slightest  evidence  that  it  was  ever  in  such  danger.  But 
we  have  made  it  a  veritable  hell  on  earth.  Its  saloons, 
gaming  halls  and  dives  of  vice  have  to-day  few  parallels 
in  all  the  iniquitous  world. 

But  we  have  incurred,  some  say,  the  obligation  to 
civilize  and  christianize  the  Filipinos,  and  to  do  this  we 
must  annex  them,  that  our  missionaries  may  be  safe  in 
their  work.  "  The  free  can  conquer  but  to  save."  This 
is  the  new  maxim  for  the  ensign  of  the  Republic,  re- 
placing the  "consent  of  the  governed,"  and  "govern- 
ment by  the  people,"  and  the  worn  out  phrases  of  our 
periwigged  fathers. 

But  to  christianize  our  neighbors  is  no  part  of  the 
business  of  our  government.  Dr.  Worcester  says 
of  the  Filipinos  that  "as  a  rule  the  grade  of  their 
morality  rises  with  the  square  of  the  distance  from 
churches  and  other  civilizing  influences."  This  means 
that  the  churches  are  not  keeping  up  with  our  saloons 
and  gaming  houses.  If  they  are  not  we  cannot  help 
them.  Missionary  work  of  Americans  as  against  Mo- 
hammedanism, Catholicism,  or  even  heathenism,  our 
government  cannot  aid.  It  is  our  boast,  and  a  righteous 
one,  that  all  religion  is  equally  respected  by  our  state.  It 
has  been  the  strength  of  our  foreign  missionaries 
that  they  never  asked  the  support  of  armies.  "The 
force  of  arms,"  said  Martin  Luther,  "  must  be  kept  far 
from  matters  of  the  Gospel."  The  courage  of  devoted 
men  and  women  and  the  power  of  the  Word,  such  is  the 
only  force  they  demand.  When  the  flag  and  the  police 
are  sent  in  advance  of  the  Bible,  missionaries  fall  to  the 
level  of  ordinary  politicians.  It  is  the  lesson  of  all 


A   BLIND    MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  8/ 

history  that  the  religious  forms  and  aspirations  of  any 
people  should  be  respected  by  its  government.  From 
Java,  the  most  prosperous  of  oriental  vassal  nations,  all 
missionaries  are  rigidly  excluded.  They  are  disturbers 
of  industry. 

It  is  the  lesson  of  England's  experience  that  all  forms 
of  government  should  be  equally  respected.  In  no  case 
has  she  changed  the  form,  however  much  she  may  have 
altered  the  administration.  Success  in  the  control  of  the 
tropical  races  no  nation  has  yet  achieved,  for  no  one  has 
yet  solved  the  problem  of  securing  industry  without  force, 
of  making  money  without  some  form  of  slavery.  But 
those  nations  which  have  come  nearest  solution  have 
most  respected  the  religions  and  prejudices  and  govern- 
mental forms  of  the  native  peoples.  Individual  men  may 
struggle  as  they  will  against  heathenism.  A  government 
must  recognize  religions  as  they  are. 

It  is  said  again  that  the  whole  matter  does  not  deserve 
half  the  words  given  it.  We  destroyed  the  government, 
such  as  it  was,  in  Cuba  and  Manila ;  we  must  stay  until 
we  have  repaired  the  mischief.  When  we  have  set  things 
going  again  it  will  be  time  to  decide  what  to  do.  The 
answer  to  this  is  that  it  is  not  true.  We  are  not  repairing 
the  damages  anywhere,  but  are  laying  our  plans  for  per- 
manent military  occupation,  which  is  imperialism.  Those 
responsible  for  these  affairs  have  kept  annexation  steadily 
in  view.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  there  is  no  intention  to 
withdraw  even  from  Cuba,  or  to  permit  any  form  of  self- 
government  there,  until  American  influences  shall  dom- 
inate. 

It  is  not  because  the  governed  have  some  intangible 
right  to  consent  that  we  object  to  this,  but  because  the 
7 


88  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

machinery  of  democracy,  which  is  acquiescence  in  action, 
will  not  work  without  their  co-operation. 

But  we  must  take  the  Philippines,  some  say,  because 
no  other  honorable  course  lies  before  us.  Some  civilized 
nation  must  own  them ;  Spain  is  out  of  the  question ;  so 
are  the  other  nations  of  Europe,  while  Aguinaldo  and  the 
Filipinos  themselves,  "  big  children  that  must  be  treated 
like  little  ones,"  are  unworthy  of  trust  and  incapable  of 
good  government. 

But,  again,  what  guarantee  is  there  that  we  shall  give 
good  government?  When  did  it  become  our  duty  to 
see  that  anarchy  and  corruption  are  expelled  from  semi- 
barbarous  regions?  When  did  we  learn  how  to  do  it? 
We  have  had  six  months  in  which  to  think  about  it. 
Who  has  ever  suggested  a  plan?  For  thirty  years  we 
have  misgoverned  Alaska  *  with  open  eyes  and  even  now 


*  Recently,  according  to  the  Springfield  Republican,  Senator 
Carter  asked  unanimous  consent  for  the  consideration  of  a  code 
of  laws  for  Alaska.  "  Various  senators  objected.  Gallinger  and 
Bate  thought  a  night  session  for  such  a  purpose  a  very  bad  pre- 
cedent. Mr.  Tillman  thought  the  time  should  be  devoted  to  the 
anti-scalping  bill,  and  Mr.  Chandler  was  anxious  to  discuss  a  ticket 
brokerage  bill."  There  being  no  senator  from  Alaska  to  enter 
into  trade  or  combination  there  is  no  hope  for  legislation  to  bring 
order  into  the  territory. 

In  a  recent  address  Governor  Roosevelt  is  reported  as  saying : 
"  Have  you  read  in  the  papers  that  an  Alaskan  town  (Wrangel) 
wants  to  be  transferred  to  Canada  ?  It  wants  to  get  out  from 
under  our  flag  merely  because  no  one  has  thought  it  worth  while 
to  give  Alaska  good  government.  If  we  govern  the  Philippines, 
Cuba,  Porto  Rico  and  Hawaii  as  we  have  governed  Alaska,  we 
shall  have  the  same  results." 

Mr.  Brady,  the  excellent  Governor  of  Alaska,  says  : 

"  There  are  sixty  men  in  charge  of  the  government  of  the  ter- 


A  BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  89 

scarcely  a  visible  sign  of  repentance.  We  are  not  sworn 
to  good  government  even  in  our  own  cities.  We  give 
them  self-government  and  that  is  all.  The  people  every- 
where make  their  own  standards.  The  standard  of 
Arizona  is  different  from  that  of  Massachusetts,  and  South 
Carolina  has  another  still.  There  is  no  good  govern- 
ment in  America  except  as  the  people  demand  it.  We 
want  good  government  on  no  other  terms. 

China,  Corea,  Siam,  Turkey,  Tartary,  Arabia  and  the 
peoples  of  Asia  generally,  "  half  devil  and  half  child," 
are  none  of  them  under  good  government.  The  rulers 
of  Central  America,  of  Venezuela,  Bolivia,  and,  worst  of 
all,  the  unspeakable  Hayti,  are  no  more  efficient  or  more 
virtuous  than  the  Filipinos.  As  men  we  may  care  for 
these  things  and  work  for  their  improvement.  As  a  na- 
tion they  are  none  of  our  business  so  long  as  the  badness 
of  government  does  not  harm  our  national  interests. 
We  have  no  nearer  concern  in  the  government  of  the 
Philippines,  nor  can  we  give  their  people  a  government 
any  better  than  they  know  how  to  demand.  We  might 
do  so  possibly,  but  we  shall  not.  We  are  not  in 
knight-errantry  "  for  our  health,"  and  we  are  in  no 
mood  for  trying  fancy  experiments.  Those  among  us 
who  might  lead  child  races  to  higher  civilization  are 
not  likely  to  be  called  on  for  advice. 

Others  say  with  swelling  breasts  that  the  finger  of  Pro- 
vidence points  the  way  for  us,  and  we  cannot  choose  but 
obey.  The  God  of  battles  has  punished  Spain  for  her 

ritory.  They  have  no  interests  in  Alaska  except  to  grab  what 
they  can  and  get  away.  They  are  like  a  lot  of  hungry  codfish. 
Seven  of  these  officials,  eleven  per  cent  of  the  entire  government, 
are  now  under  indictment  for  malfeasance  in  office." 


90  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

centuries  of  cruelty,  corruption,  and  neglect,  and  we  are 
but  as  the  instrument  in  His  hand. 

There  is  a  story  of  a  man  and  his  boys  who  got  their 
breakfast  at  a  tavern  where  food  was  scarce  and  bills  were 
high.  As  they  left  the  place  they  complained  loudly  of 
the  bad  treatment  they  had  received.  At  last  one  of  the 
boys  spoke  up  :  "  The  Lord  has  punished  that  man.  I 
have  my  pocket  full  of  his  spoons." 

"The  terrible  prophecy  of  Las  Casas,"  says  an  elo- 
quent orator,  "  has  come  true  for  Spain.  The  count- 
less treasures  of  gold  from  her  American  bondsmen  have 
been  sunk  forever,  her  empire  richer  than  Rome's  has 
been  inherited  by  freemen,  her  proud  armada  has  been 
scattered,  her  arms  have  been  overwhelmed,  her  glory 
has  departed.  If  ever  retributive  justice  overtook  an 
evil-doer  it  has  overtaken  and  crushed  this  arrogant 
power.  An  army  of  the  dead,  larger  by  far  than  the 
whole  Spanish  nation,  stormed  the  judgment  seat  of 
God  demanding  justice — stern,  retributive  justice.  God 
heard  and  answered.  This  republic  is  now  striking  the 
last  blow  for  liberty  in  America,  an  instrument  of  justice 
in  the  hands  of  an  omnipotent  power.  In  the  interest  of 
civilization,  of  imperative  humanity,  we  now  go  forth  to 
the  rescue  of  the  last  victim,  strong  in  the  consciousness 
of  the  purity  of  our  purpose,  and  the  justice  of  our 
cause." 

Again  let  us  say,  "  The  Lord  has  punished  that  nation. 
We  have  our  pockets  full  of  her  spoons." 

Doubtless  Spain  was  very  corrupt  and  very  weak  and 
very  wicked,  but  that  is  not  for  us  to  judge  while  we 
have  our  pockets  full  of  her  spoons. 

The  plain  fact  is  this  :   the  guiding  hand  of  Providence, 


A   BLIND    MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  9! 

in  such  connection  as  this,  is  mere  figure  of  speech,  in- 
tended for  our  own  justification.  Doubtless  Providence 
plays  its  part  in  the.  affairs  of  men,  but  not  in  such 
fashion  as  this.  Providence  is  our  expression  for  the 
ultimate  inevitable  righteousness  which  rules  in  human 
history.  It  "hath  put  down  the  mighty  from  their 
seats  and  hath  exalted  them  of  low  degree;"  but  its 
voice  is  not  the  "sound  of  popular  clamor."  "Fame's 
trumpet"  does  not  set  forth  its  decrees  and  it  is  not  in- 
terested in  increasing  volume  of  trade. 

The  war  with  Spain  was  in  no  sense  holy,  unless  we 
make  it  so  through  its  results.  Our  victories  indicate  no 
accession  of  divine  favor.  We  succeeded  because  we 
were  bigger,  richer,  and  far  more  capable  than  our 
enemy.  Our  navy  was  manned  with  trained  engineers, 
while  that  of  Spain  was  not.  Our  gross  wealth  made 
sure  the  final  success  of  our  army  in  spite  of  incompe- 
tence and  favoritism  which  has  risen  to  the  proportions 
of  a  national  shame.  When  we  have  cast  aside  all 
hopes  of  booty  we  shall  be  .fit  to  sit  in  judgment  on 
the  sins  of  Spain.  Till  then,  to  say  that  we  alone  are 
led  by  Divine  Providence  is  wanton  blasphemy.  Four 
very  different  impulses  carried  us  into  the  war ;  the  feel- 
ing of  humanity,  the  love  of  adventure,  the  desire  for 
revenge,  and  the  hope  of  political  capital.  Strength 
and  wealth  and  our  prestige  led  us  to  success.  The  de- 
cision of  history  as  to  the  righteousness  of  the  war  will 
be  determined  by  the  motive  that  finally  triumphs. 

Again,  some  say  we  went  to  war  in  the  interests  of 
humanity,  civilization,  and  righteousness.  To  this  end 
we  have  poured  out  blood  and  treasure.  It  is  only  fair 
that  we  should  be  paid  for  our  losses.  Let  us  fill  our 


92  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

pockets  with  the  spoons.  It  ceases  to  be  a  war  for  hu- 
manity when  we  have  forced  a  humbled  enemy,  con- 
demned without  a  hearing,  to  foot  all  the  bills. 

But  we  would  plant  the  institutions  of  freedom  in  the 
midst  of  the  Orient.  Freedom  cannot  be  confined. 
Expansion  is  her  manifest  destiny.  "  We  are  like  the 
younger  sons  of  England  who,  finding  their  own  country 
inadequate,  have  gone  forth  to  fill  the  unoccupied  places 
of  the  East,  and  now  the  time  comes  when  our  children 
are  beginning  to  face  the  conditions  that  hedged  around 
our  fathers  and  made  us  turn  our  faces  toward  the  West. 
The  United  States  on  this  continent  have  been  pretty 
well  surveyed,  explored,  conquered,  and  policed.  Shall 
we  not  see  to  it  that  our  children  shall  have  as  good  a 
forward  outlook  as  we  have  ?  We  have  proved  our  ca- 
pacity to  expand.  We  have  proved  our  capacity  to 
compete  with  any  man.  It  were  worse  than  folly,  yea, 
criminal,  to  attempt  to  set  back  the  onward  march  of 
manifest  destiny." 

So  runs  the  current  of  yellow  patriotism.  But  if  the 
Anglo-Saxon  has  a  destiny  incompatible  with  morality 
and  which  cannot  be  carried  out  in  peace,  if  he  is  bound 
by  no  pledges  and  must  ride  roughshod  over  the  rights 
and  wills  of  weaker  people  the  sooner  he  is  exterminated 
the  better  for  the  world.  In  like  strain  we  are  reminded 
that  the  arguments  against  expansion  to-day  were  used 
to  oppose  the  Louisiana  purchase  in  Jefferson's  time  and 
the  less  glorious  acquisition  of  the  provinces  of  con- 
quered Mexico.  If  expansion  to  Nebraska,  Kansas, 
Washington,  Oregon,  Colorado,  Dakota,  and  California 
was  good  national  policy,  why  not  still  further  to  the 
Philippines?  But  the  differences  between  the  one  case 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  93 

and  the  others  are  many  and  self-evident.  The  Louisi- 
ana territory  and  the  territory  of  California  were  ad- 
jacent to  our  States.  They  were  in  the  temperate  zone 
with  climate  in  every  way  favorable  to  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  and  to  the  personal  activity  on  which  free  institutions 
depend.  They  were  virtually  uninhabited  districts, 
being  peopled  chiefly  by  nomad  barbarians  who  made 
no  use  of  the  land,  and  whose  rights  the  Anglo-Saxon 
has  never  cared  to  consider.  The  first  governments 
were  established  by  the  free  men  who  entered  them. 
Finally  the  growth  of  railroads  and  the  telegraph  brought 
these  vast  regions  almost  from  the  first  into  the  closest 
touch  with  the  East  and  with  the  rest  of  the  world.  If  it 
were  not  for  the  development  of  transportation,  unfore- 
seen by  the  fathers,  the  arguments  they  used  against  ex- 
pansionism would  have  remained  valid  even  as  agains  * 
the  Louisiana  purchase. 

It  is  said  that  "  Jefferson  was  a  rank  expansionist." 
But  there  is  no  record  that  he  favored  expansion  for 
bigness'  sake,  the  seizure  or  purchase  of  all  sorts  of  land 
and*  all  sorts  of  inhabitants,  regardless  of  conditions,  re- 
gardless of  rights,  and  regardless  of  the  interests  of  our 
own  people. 

The  Philippines  are  not  contiguous  to  any  land  of  free- 
dom. They  lie  in  the  heart  of  the  torrid  zone,  "  Nature's 
asylum  for  degenerates."  They  are  already  densely  popu- 
lated— more  densely  than  even  the  oldest  of  the  United 
States.  Their  population  cannot  be  exterminated  on 
the  one  hand,  nor  made  economically  potent  on  the 
other,  except  through  slavery.  Finally  the  conditions 
of  life  are  such  as  to  forbid  Anglo-Saxon  colonization. 
Among  hundreds  of  colonial  experiments  in  Brazil,  in 


94  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

India,  in  Africa,  in  China,  there  is  not  to-day  such  a 
thing  as  a  self-supporting  European  colony  in  the  tropics. 
White  men  live  through  officialism  alone.  There  are 
military  posts,  so  placed  as  to  appropriate  the  land  and 
enslave  the  people,  but  there  is  not  one  self-dependent, 
self-respecting  European  or  American  settlement. 

Individual  exceptions  and  special  cases  to  the7  con- 
trary, the  Anglo-Saxon  or  any  other  civilized  race  de- 
\  generates  in  the  tropics  mentally,  morally,  physically. 
This  statement  has  been  lately  denied  in  some  quarters. 
As  opposed  to  it  has  been  urged  the  fact  that  Thackeray 
and  Kipling,  the  most  virile  of  British  men  of  letters, 
were  born  in  India,  and  many  other  distinguished  men 
have  first  seen  the  light  in  tropical  Africa  or  Polynesia. 
Several  Stanford  athletes  are  natives  of  Hawaii,  and 
Cuba  has  furnished  her  full  share  of  the  men  of  science 
of  the  blood  of  Spain.  But  this  argument  indicates  a  con- 
fusion of  ideas.  Degeneration  may  be  of  any  one  of  three 
different  kinds  :  race  decline,  personal  degeneration,  and 
social  decay. 

The  essential  of  race  degeneration  is  the  continuous 
lowering  of  the  mental  or  physical  powers  of  each  success- 
ive generation.  Such  a  process  is  very  slow,  requiring  cen- 
turies before  it  shows  itself.  It  finds  its  cause  in  unwhole- 
some conditions  which  destroy  first  the  bravest,  strongest, 
and  most  active,  leaving  the  feeble,  indolent  and  cow- 
ardly to  perpetuate  the  species.  Military  selection,  or 
the  seizure  of  the  strong  to  replenish  the  armies,  has  pro- 
duced race  degeneration  in  many  parts  of  Europe. 
Such  degeneration  has  been  the  curse  of  Italy  and  parts 
of  France  and  Switzerland  and  doubtless  of  Spain  and 
Germany  also.  The  dull  sodden  malarial  heat  of  the 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  95 

tropics  spares  the  indolent  longest.  In  the  Song  of  the 
Plague,  written  by  some  unknown  British  soldier,  we 
find  these  words  as  to  India  : — 

"  Cut  off  from  the  land  that  bore  us, 

Betrayed  by  the  land  we  find, 
When  the  brightest  are  gone  before  us, 
And  the  dullest  are  left  behind." 

This  is  the  beginning  of  race  degeneration.  The 
Anglo-Saxon  in  the  tropics  deteriorates  through  the 
survival  of  the  indolent  and  the  loss  of  fecundity ;  but 
this  is  met  or  concealed  by  a  number  of  other  tenden- 
cies, and  is  not  soon  apparent.  The  birth  of  a  Kipling, 
a  Thackeray,  or  a  Dole  could  not  in  any  way  affect  the 
argument.  The  British  child  born  in  India  to-day  must 
be  reared  in  England ;  and  it  is  to  be  remembered  that 
not  all  the  regions  south  of  the  Tropic  of  Cancer  are  to 
be  classed  as  tropical ;  most  of  Mexico,  much  of  India, 
and  the  whole  Andean  region  belong  to  the  temperate 
zone.  The  equable  climate  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  is 
not  in  any  proper  sense  torrid. 

In  the  tropics  the  tendency  to  personal  decay  is  more 
directly  evident.  The  swarm  of  malarial  organisms,  the 
loss  of  social  restrictions,  the  reduced  value  of  life,  the 
lack  of  moral  standards,  all  tend  to  promote  individual 
laxity  and  recklessness.  "Where  there  are  no  Ten 
Commandments,"  and  "  the  best  is  as  the  worst "  there, 
life  is  held  cheap  and  men  grow  careless.  Kipling's 
fable  of  "  Duncan  Parenness  "  tells  the  story  of  personal 
degeneration,  and  this  case  is  typical  of  thousands  and 
thousands.  Vice  and  dissipation  are  confined  to  no  zone, 
but  in  the  tropics  few  men  of  northern  blood  can  escape 
them. 


96  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

From  a  personal  letter  from  Manila,  Mr.  John  J. 
Valentine  publishes  these  words  : 

(^Moral  suicide  awaits  nine  out  of  every  ten  young 
men,  who,  lacking  the  elements  of  Christian  training  and 
influence,  visit  the  far  East.  The  morality  of  the  treaty 
ports  from  Yokohama  to  Suez  presents  a  darker  picture 
than  the  slums  of  Europe  can  offer.  There  temptation 
is  all  but  overpowering ;  it  stalks  on  the  streets,  is  regis- 
tered at  the  hotels,  and  put-up  at  the  social  clubs.  Its 
representatives  are  prowling  into  Manila  from  Hong 
Kong  and  Singapore.  November  and  December  last 
witnessed  a  veritable  Klondykan  rush  to  the  former 
Spanish  capital.  As  a  result,  Manila  is  becoming  a  den 
of  vice.  The  Escolta,  the  leading  street,  facetiously 
referred  to  as  the  'Yankee  beer  chute,'  resembles 
somewhat  a  midway,  and  is  all  but  literally  lined  with 
saloons.  I  counted  four  hundred  in  a  little  over  a  mile. 
These  are  mostly  kept  by  Americans.  The  largest  cafe, 
known  as  the  Alhambra,  has  frequently  closed  its  bar  at 
four  in  the  afternoon  because  its  stock  of  liquor  was  ex- 
hausted. Do  the  Filipinos  form  the  larger  complement 
of  their  patrons?  Not  at  all,  our  own  boys  are  their 
customers,  and  many  of  them  boys,  who  prior  to  their 
arrival  at  Manila,  had  not,  I  venture  to  say,  ever  touched 
a  glass  of  intoxicating  liquor. 

"  The  young  man  without  capital  has  no  business  in 
these  islands.  Until  order  is  brought  out  of  chaos,  the 
situation  becomes  more  stable,  the  clouds  lift,  and  the 
necessity  of  maintaining  a  large  force  to  hold  in  check 
the  native  population  is  removed,  the  best  place  for  our 
young  men  is  at  home,  and  even  under  the  most  favorable 
conditions,  had  I  a  son,  I  would  feel  somewhat  as  though 


A   BLIND    MAN  S   HOLIDAY.  97 

I  was  consigning  him  to  almost  certain  destruction  did 
I  permit  him  to  take  up  residence  in  the  Orient,  when 
necessity  did  not  compel  his  passing  beyond  our  shores." 

With  individual  deterioration  goes  social  decay.  Man 
becomes  less  careful  of  his  dress,  his  social  observances, 
his  duties  to  others.  Woman  loses  her  regard  for  con- 
ventionalities, for  her  reputation,  and  for  her  character. 
The  little  efforts  that  hold  society  together  are  abandoned 
one  by  one.  The  spread  of  the  "Mother  Hubbard," 
crowding  out  more  elaborate  forms  of  ^dress,  Indicates  a 
general  failure  of  social  conventionalities.  The  decay 
of  society  reacts  on  the  individual.  Where  it  is  too 
warm  or  too  malarial  to  be  conventional,  it  is  too  much 
trouble  to  be  decent.  Without  going  into  causes,  it  is 
sufficient  to  say  that  Anglo-Saxon  colonies  of  self-re- 
specting, self-governing  men  and  women  are  practically 
confined  to  the  temperate  regions. 

The  annexation  of  the  Philippines  is,  therefore,  not  a 
movement  of  expansion.  We  cannot  expand  into  space 
already  full.  Our  nation  cannot  expand  where  freedom 
cannot  go.  Neither  the  people  nor  the  institutions  of 
the  United  States  can  ever  occupy  the  Philippines.  The 
American  home  cannot  endure  there,  the  town-meeting 
cannot  exist.  There  is  no  room  for  free  laborers,  no 
welcome  for  them,  and  no  pay.  The  sole  opening  for 
Americans  in  any  event  will  be  as  corporations  or  agents 
of  corporations,  as  Government  officials  or  as  members 
of  some  profession  requiring  higher  than  native  fitness. 
There  is  no  chance  for  the  American  workman,  but  for 
syndicates  they  offer  great  opportunities.  Yes,  for  the 
syndicates  who  handle  politics  as  an  incident  in  business. 
But  the  fewer  of  such  syndicates  we  shelter  under  our  flag, 


98  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

the  better  for  our  people.  Let  them  take  their  chances 
without  our  help. 

If  it  were  possible  to  exterminate  the  Filipinos  as  we 
have  destroyed  the  Indians,  replacing  their  institutions 
and  their  people  by  ours,  the  political  objections  to  an- 
nexation would,  in  the  main,  disappear,  whatever  might 
be  said  of  the  moral  ones. 

For  our  extermination  of  the  Indian,  there  is,  in  general, 
no  moral  justification.  There  is  a  good  political  excuse 
in  it — that  we  could  and  did  use  their  land  in  a  better 
way  than  was  possible  to  them.  We  have  no  such  excuse 
in  Luzon ;  we  cannot  use  the  land  except  as  we  use  the 
lives  of  the  people. 

We  cannot  plant  free  institutions  in  the  Orient  be- 
cause once  planted  they  will  not  grow ;  if  they  grow  they 
will  not  be  free.  We  cannot  exterminate  these  people, 
and  if  we  did  we  could  not  use  their  land  for  our  own 
people ;  we  could  only  fill  it  with  Asiatic  colonists, 
Malay,  Chinese,  or  Japanese,  more  of  the  same  kind, 
not  of  our  kind. 

"  Any  attempt  to  govern  the  tropical  possessions  of 
the  United  States  on  democratic  principles,  says  Pro- 
fessor W.  Alleyne  Ireland,  one  of  our  wisest  authorities, 
"  is  doomed  to  certain  failure.  It  has  been  already 
shown  that  without  forced  labor,  or  at  least  some  form 
of  indentured  labor,  large  industries  cannot  be  developed 
in  tropical  colonies."  Such  forced  labor  can  be  con- 
trolled only  by  the  compulsion  of  the  government  as  in 
Java,  or  by  the  activity  of  great  corporations  as  in 
Hawaii  and  Trinidad. 

"  It  is  thought  by  many,"  says  Mr.  Ireland,  "  that 
though  it  may  be  unadvisable  to  grant  the  (tropical) 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  99 

colonies  representative  government  at  present,  the  time 
will  soon  come  when  the  people  will  show  themselves 
capable  of  self-government.  Judging  from  past  expe- 
rience there  would  seem  to  be  little  hope  that  these 
pleasant  anticipations  will  ever  be  realized..  We  look  in 
vain  for  a  single  instance  within  the  tropics  of  a  really 
well-governed  country." 

The  notion  that  in  these  fertile  islands  our  surplus 
working  men  shall  find  homes  is  the  height  of  absurdity. 
Our  labor  leaders  understand  this  well  enough,  and  for 
once  they  stand  together  on  the  side  of  common  sense. 
Scarcely  any  part  of  the  United  States  is  so  crowded 
with  people  as  Luzon  or  Porto  Rico ;  in  no  part  is  the 
demand  for  labor  less  or  its  rewards  so  meager.  Ten 
cents  a  day  is  not  a  free  man's  scale  of  wages ;  and  no 
change  of  government  can  materially  alter  this  relation. 
In  the  tropics  the  conditions  of  subsistence  are  so  easy 
and  the  incentives  to  industry  so  slight  that  all  races  ex- 
posed to  relaxing  influences  become  pauperized.  It  is  the 
free-lunch  system  on  a  boundless  scale,  the  environment 
of  Nature  too  generous  to  be  just,  too  kind  to  be  exacting. 

For  the  control  of  dependent  nations  and  slave  races 
the  fair  sounding  name  of  Imperialism  has  lately  come 
into  use.  It  has  been  hailed  with  joy  on  the  one  hand, 
for  it  is  associated  with  armorial  bearings  and  more  than 
royal  pomp  and  splendor.  It  has  been  made  a  term  of 
reproach  on  the  other,  and  our  newspaper  politicians 
now  hasten  to  declare  that  they  favor  expansion  only 
when  it  has  no  taint  of  Imperialism.  But  to  our  British 
friends  nothing  could  be  more  ridiculous.  You  must 
have  an  iron  hand  or  you  get  no  profits.  To  cast  aside 
Imperialism  is  to  cast  away  the  sole  method  by  ^which 


100  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

tropical  colonies  have  ever  been  made  profitable  to  com- 
merce or  tolerable  in  politics.  On  the  other  hand  these 
same  people  tell  us  that  they  have  not  the  slightest 
thought  of  making  states  of  Cuba  or  the  Philippines,  or 
of  admitting  the  Filipinos  to  citizenship.  But  if  the 
Filipino  is  not  a  citizen  of  his  own  land,  who  is  ? 

We  are  advised  on  good  patrician  authority  that  all  is 
well,  whatever  we  do,  if  we  avoid  the  fatal  mistake  of 
admitting  the  brown  races  to  political  equality — of  letting 
them  govern  us.  We  must  rule  them  for  their  own  good 
— never  for  our  advantage.  In  other  words,  lead  or 
drive  the  inferior  man  along,  but  never  recognize  his 
will,  his  manhood,  his  equality ;  never  let  him  count  one 
when  he  is  measured  against  you. 

These  maxims  should  be  familiar ;  they  are  the  phil- 
osophy of  slavery,  and  they  only  lack  the  claim  of  the 
right  to  buy  and  sell  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men.  Our 
purchase  of  the  Filipinos  from  Spain,  and  our  subsequent 
treatment  of  the  resultant  slave  insurrection  supplies  the 
missing  element. 

"  Benevolent  Despotism,"  is  Mr.  Kidd's  expression 
for  the  sole  method  of  control  possible  in  the  tropics, 
leading  to  industrial  success.  "  Slavery  "  is  an  older  term 
of  similar  meaning.  "  I  am  for  the  black  man,  as  against 
the  alligator,"  Douglas  is  reported  to  have  said,  "but  as 
between  black  man  and  white  man,  I  am  for  the  white 
man  every  time."  This  is  inequality  before  the  law,  the 
essence  of  slavery,  the  essence  of  Imperialism  which  is 
slavery  as  applied  to  nations.  Every  argument  used  in 
defense  of  it,  applies  as  well  to  the  defense  of  slavery 
and  has  been  worn  out  in  that  cause. 

One  plan  or  the  other  we  must  adopt ;  either  self- 


A   BLIND    MAN  S   HOLIDAY.  IOI 

rule  or  Imperialism ;  there  is  no  middle  course,  and  both 
under  present  conditions  are  virtually  impossible.  Let 
the  friends  of  annexation  develop  some  plan  of  govern- 
ment, any  plan  whatever,  and  its  folly  and  ineffectiveness 
will  speedily  appear.  To  go  ahead  without  a  plan  means 
certain  disaster,  and  that  very  soon  ;  whatever  we  do  or 
do  not  do,  there  is  no  time  to  lose.  >  cr  •  ?  '•,  \ 

Conquest  of  the  Orient  is  not  expansion,  for  there  is 
no  room  for  free  manhood  to  grow  tnere.  .It  is  ujx-tecs 
to  disclaim  Imperialism  when  we  are  red-handed  in  the 
very  act.  Annexation  without  Imperialism  is  sheer 
anarchy.  Annexation  with  Imperialism  may  be  much 
worse,  for  so  far  as  it  goes  it  means  the  abandonment  of 
democracy.  The  Union  cannot  endure  "  half  slave,  half 
free,"  half  republic,  half  empire.  We  may  make  vassal 
tribes  of  the  Filipinos,  but  never  free  states  in  the  sense 
in  which  the  name  "  state  "  applies  to  Maine,  Iowa,  or 
California.  The  Philippines  can  have  no  part  in  the 
Federal  Union.  Their  self-government  must  be  of  a 
wholly  different  kind,  the  outgrowth  of  their  own  needs 
and  dispositions.  What  they  need  is  not  our  freedom, 
but  some  form  of  paternal  despotism  or  monarchy  of 
their  own  choosing  which  shall  command  their  loyalty  and 
yet  keep  them  in  peace. 

"  It  is  no  man's  duty  to  govern  any  other  man." 
Still  less  is  it  a  nation's  duty  to  govern  another  nation. 
All  that  the  weak  nations  ask  of  the  strong  is  :  "  Stand 
out  of  my  sunlight  and  let  me  alone." 

We  have  never  adopted  the  theory  that  each  small 
nation  must  be  tributary  to  some  other,  and  that  each 
nation  of  the  lazy  tropics  must  have  slave  drivers  from 
Europe  to  make  its  people  work. 


102  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

Under  the  terms  of  our  Federal  Union,  the  United 
States  has  jurisdiction  over  Louisiana  and  California. 
But  in  like  degree  California  and  Louisiana  have  jurisdic- 
tion over  the  United  States.  If  under  republican  forms  we 
assert  our  authority  over  Luzon  and  Mindanao  we  grant 
in  like  degree  to  Luzon  and  Mindanao  authority  over 
us.  The^autho.ivty  of  democracy  is  equal  and  reciprocal. 

Imperialism  means  such  a  control  of  tropical  lands 
that  .they  may  be. , economically  productive  or  that  their 
doors  may  be  thrown  open  to  commerce.  It  is  a  defi- 
nite business,  difficult  and  costly,  with  few  rewards  and 
many  dangers.  It  is  fairly  well  understood  by  some  of 
those  engaged  in  it.  It  has  been  successfully  conducted 
along  certain  very  narrow  lines  by  Great  Britain  and  by 
Holland,  although  both  countries  have  the  record  of 
many  failures  before  they  learned  the  art.  Germany  has 
tried  it  for  a  little  while,  as  have  also  Japan  and  Belgium, 
none  of  these  with  successful  results.  Spain  is  out  of 
the  business  in  utter  bankruptcy  and  her  assets  are  in  our 
hands  for  final  disposition.  France  has  made  failures 
only,  and  this  because  she  has  held  colonies  for  her  own 
ends,  regardless  of  their  own  interests. 

"No  sooner,"  says  Lionel  Decle,  "was  the  island  (of 
Madagascar)  in  the  hands  of  these  (French  colonial 
leaders)  than  they  closed  it  to  all  foreign  prospectors. 
They  imposed  prohibitive  duties  on  all  foreign  goods, 
keeping  the  country  for  the  French  colonists  that  never 
came,  and  that  never  will  come." 

Control  of  the  tropics  has  none  of  the  glories  we  vul- 
garly associate  with  imperial  sway.  Its  details  are  trivial, 
paltry  and  exasperating  in  the  last  degree.  The  more 
successful  as  to  money,  the  more  offensive  to  freedom. 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  103 

In  some  regions,  as  Guiana,  no  nation  has  yet  accom- 
plished anything  either  in  bringing  civilization  or  in  mak- 
ing money,  while  in  Java  and  Trinidad  the  results,  how- 
ever great,  have  been  financial  or  commercial  only.  In 
Jamaica,  the  abolition  of  slavery  marked  the  end  of  in- 
dustrial prosperity.  Every  dollar  made  in  Java  has  been 
blood  money,  red  with  the  blood  of  Dutch  soldiers  on 
the  one  side  and  with  that  of  the  Malay  people  on  the 
other. 

Concerning  the  conditions  in  Java,  Mr.  Valentine  uses 
these  words : 

"  The  history  of  Netherlands  India — the  Dutch  Colonies  in 
Malaysia — is  a  light-and-shadow  picture.  Its  bright  side  depicts 
the  wealthy  plantation  owner  in  Europe  surrounded  by  every 
luxury  of  his  home  land,  annually  in  receipt  of  millions  of  guilders 
from  his  East  Indian  plantations.  The  contrast  is  found  in  the 
humid  tropic  lands,  where  some  30,000,000  patient,  cowed  Malays, 
working  under  the  harsh  supervision  of  agents,  produce  the 
wealth  that  rightfully  is  theirs,  because  earned  by  them  on  lands 
•which  have  been  wrested  or  tricked  from  them  and  held  by  the 
foreigners  at  the  expense  of  thousands  of  lives  annually  among 
the  white  troops  sent  out  to  maintain  a  usurped  supremacy, 
gained  gradually  over  the  unsuspecting  and  friendly  natives  by 
false  pledges,  broken  promises  and  ultimately  by  force  of  arms." 

Again  he  says : 

"  The  language  of  these  people  is  soft  and  musical, — the  Ita- 
lian of  the  tropics — their  ideas  are  poetic  and  their  love  of 
flowers,  perfumes,  music,  dancing,  heroic  plays  and  emotional 
art  of  every  description .  proves  them  highly  aesthetic.  Their 
reverence  for  rank  and  age,  coupled  with  an  elaborate  etiquette 
and  punctilious  courtesy  to  one  another,  marked  even  in  the 
common  people,  when  contrasted  with  their  abject  crouching 
humility  before  their  despotic  Dutch  masters,  are  themes  for  sad 
reflection  and  arouse  just  indignation.  The  sight  of  quiet,  in- 
8 


104  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

offensive  peddlers,  who  beseech  chiefly  with  their  eyes,  being 
furiously  kicked  out  of  a  hotel  courtyard  or  any  other  public 
place,  when  Mynheer  does  not  choose  to  buy,  causes  the  casual 
looker-on  to  recoil ;  but  to  see  little  native  children  actually  lifted 
by  the  ear  and  hurled  away  from  a  humble  vantage  point  on 
the  curbstone  to  make  way  for  a  pajamaed  Dutchman  who  wishes 
to  view  some  troops  that  may  be  marching  by,  makes  one  sick  at 
heart. 

"  Said  a  Dutch  official  to  a  visitor  :  '  I  noticed  you  looked  at 
the  whipping-post  in  the  jail.'  '  Yes  ;  we  sometimes  flog  them 
lightly.  If  a  man  on  parole  does  not  return  to  the  jail  in  time  a 
gendarme  generally  finds  him  in  his  hut  and  brings  him  back, 
when,  as  he  expects,  he  gets  a  few  lashes.  We  don't  punish 
severely — they  would  never  forget  that.'  Can  they  ever  forget 
the  indignity  of  a  single  lash,  which,  though  lightly  laid  on,  yet 
stifles  or  destroys  the  spirit  of  manhood  ? 

"It  is  said  that  the  disposition  of  the  Javanese  is  now  chang- 
ing. The  Dutch  have  lost  confidence  in  native  troops.  The 
people  now  come  freely  into  contact  with  Europeans,  the  educa- 
tion given  them  has  had  an  effect,  and  communication  has  been 
rendered  easy.  They  do  not  fear  the  Europeans  as  they  formerly 
did.  The  time  is  past  when  the  entire  population  of  a  village 
could  be  driven  with  a  stick  to  a  far-off  plantation — the  pruning 
knife  and  the  axe  would  be  quickly  turned  against  the  driver  in 
these  latter  days.  They  no  longer  believe  that  the  European  is 
interested  in  their  welfare,  and  are  well  aware  that  they  are  cheated 
out  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  value  of  the  coffee  harvest. 
However  much  the  colonist  may  regret  it,  the  period  of  darkness 
is  passing  away  and  the  time  of  coercion  in  Java  giving  place  to 
better  conditions,  and  any  attempt  to  stay  the  tide  of  progress 
will  only  call  forth  the  enmity  of  the  natives.  The  Malay  spirit 
of  revenge  has  done  much,  perhaps,  to  bring  about  the  present 
governmental  era  of  comparative  kindness,  fair-dealing  and  jus- 
tice in  Java." 

The  state  committee,  on  government  coffee  planta- 
tions is  quoted  as  saying  in  its  latest  reports  : 

"  If  the  native  has  not  become  more  progressive  and  sensible, 
he  is,  at  least,  wiser  in  matters  about  which  he  should  be  kept  in 


A  BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  10$ 

the  dark,  unless  the  government  means  to  remove  coercion  at 
the  expense  of  the  exchequer." 

Concerning  "  contract  labor  "  as  now  developed  in 
Hawaii,  Mabel  Craft,*  makes  the  following  observation : 

"  One  glaring  instance  of  this  political  immorality  existed  in 
Hawaii  for  years  in  the  shape  of  a  system  of  contract  labor,  with 
penal  enforcement,  which  differed  little  from  southern  slavery. 
They  will  tell  you  down  there  that  this  labor  was  necessary  for 
the  development  of  the  island — that  sugar  could  not  be  produced 
>  without  it,  and  that  without  sugar  the  islands  would  never  have 
^  been  rich.  And  what  they  tell  you  is  perfectly  true.  For  sugar 
the  contract-bound  Chinese  and  Japanese  were  necessary,  and 
for  the  commercial  prosperity  of  the  islands  there  must  be  sugar. 
I  believe  that  the  southern  owners  of  cotton  plantations  pleaded 
a  similar  necessity  for  almost  a  hundred  years. 

"  The  contract  laborer  is  a  wage-slave.  P'or  a  long  time  he 
had  no  name,  being  known  only  by  a  number,  like  a  convict, 
until  public  opinion  forced  a  change.  His  contract  was  penally 
enforced,  and  if  he  ran  away  he  was  recaptured  and  brought  back 
and  forced  to  serve  out  his  time.  The  only  difference  between 
this  slavery  and  that  of  the  South  is  that  the  Hawaiian  slaves 
are  paid  a  certain  wage,  and  that  the  consuls  look  after  the  rights 
of  their  countrymen  when  abuses  become  too  flagrant.  There  is, 
too,  a  suggestion  of  free-will  in  the  fact  that  the  Orientals  are 
supposed  to  bind  themselves  willingly  in  their  own  countries. 
But  there  are  on  the  island  of  Hawaii  whole  villages  of  fugitive 
laborers,  hidden  in  inaccessible  places  in  the  mountains — camps 
whither  other  laborers  flee,  somewhat  as  they  did  to  the  Dismal 
swamp. 

"  It  is  something  of  a  shock  to  the  calloused  Westerner  to  find 
a  government  almost  entirely  composed  of  the  thin,  cool  New 
England  blood — the  blood  of  Phillips  and  of  Garrison — so  calmly 
determining  that  the  labor  of  the  country  needs  must  be  given 
it.  If  the  kings  had  done  it  there  would  have  been  no  surprise 
— they  knew  no  better ;  but  these  political  sons  of  priestly  sires, 
who  had  overturned  a  government  because  they  believed  in  the 

*  Hawaii — Nei.    p.  30. 


106  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

equality  of  men — how  could  they  reconcile  it  with  their  con- 
sciences ?  It  seems  almost  as  though  in  their  anxiety  to  instruct 
the  natives,  the  missionaries  had  forgotten  to  teach  the  Golden 
Rule  to  their  own  sons." 

Since  the  annexation  of  Hawaii  the  importation  of 
coolie  laborers  from  Asia  has  been  checked,  and  similar 
importation  of  Portuguese  indentured  laborers  has  taken 
its  place. 

The  voice  of  common  British  opinion  seems  to  be  that 
it  is  our  turn  to  take  a  hand  in  the  control  of  the  tropics. 
This  idea  is  assumed  in  Kipling's  appeal,  <l  Take  Up 
the  White  Man's  Burden,"  and  the  real  force  of  his  verse 
is  a  warning  that  there  is  no  easy  way  to  success.  The 
motive  is  to  be  not  glory,  but  the  profit  to  the  world.  It 
is  our  duty,  with  the  others,  to  share  the  burden  of  tropi- 
cal control  that  we  may  increase  the  wealth  and  com- 
merce of  the  nations.  There  is  some  reason  in  this 
appeal.  It  is  a  business  we  cannot  wholly  shirk.  I 
maintain,  however,  that  so  far  as  we  are  concerned,  this 
is  a  matter  purely  for  individual  enterprise.  The  Ameri- 
can merchant,  missionary,  and  miner  have  taken  up  the 
white  man's  burden  cheerfully ;  the  American  Govern- 
ment cannot. 

"  A  certain  class  of  mind,"  says  Mr.  Charles  F.  Lum- 
mis,  "froths  at  the  bare  suggestion  that  the  United 
States  cannot  'do  anything  any  other  nation  can.' 
Well,  it  cannot — and  remain  United  States.  A  gentle- 
man has  all  the  organs  of  a  "blackguard.  But  a  gentle- 
man cannot  lie,  steal,  bully  nor  ravish.  A  republic  can- 
not be  a  despotism." 

I  notice  that  not  one  of  our  tried  friends  in  England, 
men  like  Bryce,  Morley,  and  Goldwin  Smith,  who  under- 


A  BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  IO/ 

stand  our  spirit  and  our  laws,  urge  the  holding  of  the 
Philippines.  In  England,  as  in  America,  the  call  to 
hold  the  Philippines  is  mainly  that  of  the  jingo  and  the 
politician,  the  reckless  and  conscienceless  elements  in 
the  public  life  of  each  nation  joining  hands  with  each 
other. 

The  white  man's  burden,  in  the  British  sense,  is  to 
force  the  black  man  to  support  himself  and  the  white 
man,  too.  This  is  the  meaning  of  "control  of  the 
tropics."  The  black  man  cannot  be  exterminated  at 
home  as  the  red  man  can ;  therefore,  let  us  make  him 
carry  double.  The  world  needs  all  that  we  can  get  out 
of  him.  This  may  be  all  the  better  for  the  black  man 
in  need  of  exercise,  but  it  is  the  old  spirit  of  slavery, 
and  its  disguise  is  the  thinnest. 

Our  Monroe  Doctrine  pledges  us  to  a  national  interest 
in  the  tropics  of  the  New  World.  This  is  because 
throughout  the  New  World  American  citizens  have  in- 
terests which  our  flag  must  protect.  In  matters  of 
legitimate  interest  no  nation  has  been  less  isolated  than 
America;  but  our  influence  goes  abroad  without  our 
armies.  Force  of  brains  is  greater  than  force  of  arms, 
more  worthy  and  more  lasting.  Of  all  the  recent  phases 
of  American  expansion  the  most  important  and  most 
honorable  is  that  which  is  called  the  "  peaceful  conquest 
of  Mexico."  We  hear  little  of  it  because  it  sounds  no 
trumpets  and  vaunts  not  itself.  The  present  stability  of 
Mexico  is  largely  due  to  American  influences.  Every 
year  American  intelligence  and  American  capital  find 
better  and  broader  openings  there.  In  time,  Mexico 
shall  become  a  republic  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name,  side 
by  side  in  the  friendliest  relation  with  her  sister  republic 


108  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

of  broader  civilization.  It  is  not  necessary  that  the 
same  flag  should  float  over  both.  If  one  be  red,  white, 
and  blue,  let  the  other  be  green,  white,  and  red — what 
matter  ?  The  development  of  Mexico,  the  "  awaking  of 
a  nation,"  is  thus  a  legitimate  form  of  expansion.  It  is 
not  a  widening  of  governmental  responsibility,  but  a 
widening  of  American  influence  and  an  extension  of 
republican  ideas.  The  next  century  will  see  Mexico  an 
American  instead  of  a  Spanish  republic,  and  this  without 
war,  conquest  or  intrigue. 

The  purpose  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  not  to  keep 
the  European  flag  from  America.  Its  function  is  to  pre- 
vent the  extension  here  of  European  colonial  methods, 
the  domination  of  weak  races  by  strong,  of  one  race  for 
the  good  of  another,  of  the  principle  of  inequality  of 
right  which  underlies  slavery. 

The  spread  of  law  and  order,  respect  for  manhood, 
of  industrial  wisdom  and  commercial  integrity,  this  is 
the  true  "  white  man's  burden,"  not  the  conquest  and 
enslavement  of  men  of  other  races.  Expansion  is  most 
honorable  and  worthy,  if  only  that  which  is  worthy  and 
honorable  is  allowed  to  expand.  The  love  of  adventure, 
a  precious  heritage  of  our  race,  may  find  its  play  under 
any  flag  if  it  cannot  honorably  take  our  own  to  shelter 
it. 

The  world  of  action  is  just  as  wide  to-day  as  it  ever 
was,  and  if  the  red,  white,  and  blue  floated  over  every 
foot  of  it,  it  would  be  no  wider. 

If  after  our  conquest  of  Mexico,  while  our  flag  floated 
over  Chapultepec,  we  had  never  hauled  it  down  but  had 
seized  the  whole  land,  we  should  have  gained  nothing 
for  civilization.  The  splendid  natural  development  of 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  109 

the  country  by  which,  in  Diaz's  own  words,  it  has  be- 
come "the  germ  of  a  great  nation,"  would  have  been  as 
impossible  under  our  forms  as  under  the  imperial  forms 
of  Napoleon  and  Maximilian.  The  modern  growth  of 
Japan  would  never  have  taken  place  had  she,  like  India, 
been  numbered  with  England's  vassals.  A  nation  must 
develop  from  within  by  natural  processes  if  it  is  to  be- 
come great  and  permanent. 

But  some  urge  that  we  must  hold  far-off  colonies,  the 
farther  the  better,  for  the  sake  of  our  own  greatness. 
Great  Britain  is  built  up  by  her  colonies.  "  What  does 
he  know  of  England,  who  only  England  knows?" 

"  Just  pride  is  no  mean  factor  in  the  state, 
The  sense  of  greatness  makes  a  people  great." 

The  grandeur  of  Rome  lay  in  her  colonies,  and  in  her 
far  and  wide  extension  must  be  the  greatness  of  the 
United  States. 

But  the  decline  of  Rome  dates  from  the  same  far  and 
wide  extension.  Extension  for  extension's  sake  is  a 
relic  of  barbarous  times.  An  army  in  civilization  must 
exist  for  peace  not  for  war,  and  it  should  be  as  small  as 
it  can  safely  be  made.  A  standing  army  means  waste, 
oppression,  and  moral  decay.  Carlyle  once  said  some- 
thing like  this,  "  It  is  not  your  democracy  or  any  other 
'ocracy  that  keeps  your  people  contented.  It  is  the 
fact  that  you  have  very  much  land  and  very  few  people." 
But  this  is  not  half  the  truth.  The  main  reason  of  our 
prosperity  is  our  freedom  from  war.  Our  farmer  carries  \ 
no  soldier  on  his  back.  We  fear  no  foreign  invader  be- 
cause we  invite  none.  Were  the  people  of  the  continent 
of  Europe  once  freed  from  the  cost  of  militarism,  their 


1 10  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

industrial  progress  would  be  the  wonder  of  the  ages. 
As  it  is  they  are  ground  down  by  worse  than  medieval 
taxation.  A  French  cartoon  represents  the  farmer  of 
1 780  with  a  feudal  lord  on  his  back.  The  French  farmer 
of  1900  is  figured  as  bearing  a  soldier,  then  a  politician, 
and  on  the  back  of  these  a  money-lender.  Without 
these,  industry  would  buy  prosperity  and  prosperity  con- 
tentment ;  with  contentment  would  rise  new  hope.  The 
hopelessness  of  militarism  is  the  basis  of  European 
pessimism ;  men  see  no  end  to  the  piling  up  of  engines 
of  death.  Were  the  continent  of  Europe  freed  from 
killing  taxation,  England  could  no  longer  hold  her  prim- 
acy in  trade.  War  has  destroyed  the  life  of  her  rivals. 
Could  bankrupt  Italy  disband  her  armies  and  sink  her 
worthless  navies  the  glories  of  the  golden  age  would  come 
again.  Could  France  cease  to  be  militant  she  would  no 
longer  be  decadent.  If  politics  in  the  army  is  fatal  to 
military  power  the  army  in  politics  is  fatal  to  the  state. 
No  nation  can  grow  in  strength  when  its  bravest  and  best 
are  each  year  devoured  by  the  army.  This  has  gone  on 
in  southern  Europe  for  a  thousand  years. 

"  War's  great  purpose,"  says  Edward  Markwick, "  is  the 
fostering  of  strength,  not  physical  strength  alone,  but  the 
combination  of  moral,  intellectual  and  physical  strength." 
But  the  actual  effect  of  war  is  exactly  the  reverse  of 
this.  Its  call  is  ever  in  Kipling's  words,  "  Send  forth  the 
best  ye  breed."  And  the  best  never  return.  With  the 
selection  of  the  best  for  exile  and  destruction  the  stan- 
dard of  the  race  at  home  inevitably  declines.  This  is 
the  story  of  the  failure  of  the  Latin  races.  It  is  at  least 
a  warning  to  all  others.  Some  one  thus  apostrophizes 
ancient  Greece : 


A  BLIND   MAN'S  HOLIDAY.  Ill 

"  Of  all  your  thousands  grant  but  three 
To  make  a  new  Thermopylae." 

But  this  cannot  be.  The  heroes  are  dead.  The  sons 
of  heroes  were  never  born,  and  the  men  of  old  who  ever 
"  with  a  frolic  welcome  took  the  thunder  and  the  sun- 
shine "  have  given  place  to  a  race  of  clodhoppers  and  cow- 
ards, the  lineal  descendants  of  men  like  themselves  whom 
the  warriors  could  not  use.  "  'Tis  Greece,  but  living 
Greece  no  more." 

The  most  insidious  foe  to  race  development  is  military 
selection.  The  destruction  of  the  brave  in  the  Roman 
wars  finally,  according  to  Otto  Sech,  left  the  Romans  a 
race  of  "  congenital  cowards."  In  proportion  as  a  na- 
tion succeeds  in  war,  it  must  lose  its  possibility  of  future 
success  in  war  or  peace.  The  greatest  loss  to  America 
in  her  Civil  War  rests  in  the  fact  that  a  million  of  her 
strongest,  bravest,  most  devoted  men  have  left  no  de- 
scendants. More  than  the  men  who  died  we  miss  the  men 
who  never  were.  Such  loss  has  gone  on  in  Europe  since 
war  began.  It  has  grown  more  destructive  since  the 
individual  strength  of  the  warrior  ceased  to  count — lost 
in  the  multitude  of  battalions.  If  we  cannot  stop  fight- 
ing, civilization  will  have  nothing  left  worth  fighting  for. 

The  terrible  wastes  of  war  are  recognized  by  Great 
Britain.  These  she  has  tried  to  minimize  by  letting  alone 
everything  which  does  not  relate  to  commerce.  She  has 
ceased  to  hope  for  the  impossible  and  has  come  down 
to  business  principles.  The  British  Empire  is  a  huge 
commercial  trust.  England  has  no  illusions.  "  England 
neither  fears  nor  admires  any  nation  under  heaven," 
writes  an  Oxford  scholar.  She  never  fights  save  when 
she  is  sure  to  win  and  to  throw  the  costs  on  her  opponent. 


112  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

She  has  secured  all  points  of  real  commercial  advantage 
and  is  making  the  most  of  the  ignorance  and  folly  of 
those  who  strive  to  emulate  her. 

Great  Britain  expands  where  order  and  trade  extend. 
Our  expansion  demands  one  thing  more,  equality  of  all 
men  before  the  law.  All  expansion  of  our  boundaries 
brought  about  by  honorable  means  and  carrying  equal 
justice  to  all  men,  I,  for  one,  earnestly  favor.  To  that 
limit,  and  that  only,  I  write  myself  down  as  a  "  rank  ex- 
pansionist," I  see  no  honor  in  our  seizure  of  the  Phil- 
ippines, nor  prospect  of  justice  in  our  ultimate  rule. 

Our  British  friends  speak  of  the  smoothness  of  their 
colonial  methods,  especially  in  the  Crown  colonies,  which 
Parliament  cannot  touch.  Everything  runs  as  though 
newly  oiled  and  the  British  public  hears  nothing  of  it. 
Exactly  so.  It  is  none  of  the  public's  business,  and  the 
less  the  public  has  to  say  the  less  embarrassment  from  its 
ignorant  meddling.  The  Colonial  Bureau*  belongs  to 
the  Crown,  not  to  the  people.  The  waste  and  crime 
and  bloodshed  do  not  rest  on  their  heads.  But  we 
are  not  ready  for  that  kind  of  adjustment.  Our  Execu- 
tive is  a  creature  of  the  public.  We  have  no  govern- 
mental affairs  which  are  sacred  from  the  eyes  or  the 
hand  of  the  people.  "  Government  of  the  people,  for 
the  people,  and  by  the  people  "  implies  that  the  people 
are  to  be  interested  in  all  its  details ;  every  one  to  the 
least  and  the  greatest,  even  at  the  risk  of  destroying  its 

*  In  the  journals,  to-day,  I  see  a  record  of  a  question  addressed 
in  Parliament  to  the  British  Minister  of  Finance.  "  This  is  the 
question  of  government  with  government,"  said  he,  in  refusing 
to  answer.  In  other  words,  imperial  affairs  in  England  are  none 
of  the  people's  business.  If  they  were,  there  would  be  fewer  of 
them. 


A   BLIND    MANS   HOLIDAY.  113 

smoothness  of  operation.  Hence,  colonial  rule  as  un- 
dertaken by  us  must  be  marred  by  vacillation,  ignorance, 
incompetence,  parsimony,  and  neglect.  All  these  defects 
appear  in  our  foreign  relations  as  well.  For  the  reason 
of  the  greater  intelligence  of  our  people  in  public  affairs, 
our  government  will  enter  on  the  control  of  the  tropics 
with  a  great  handicap.  The  people  want  to  know  all 
about  it.  The  Administration  must  keep  open  books 
and  justify  itself  at  every  step.  This  will  act  against 
its  highest  efficiency.  The  forms  of  self-government  are 
not  adapted  to  the  government  of  others.  The  very 
strength  of  the  Republic  unfits  it  for  complicated  tasks, 
because  its  power  can  be  brought  at  once  into  effect 
only  as  the  people  understand  its  purposes.  Popular 
government  and  good  government  are  two  very  different 
things.  Often  they  are  for  generations  not  on  speaking 
terms  with  each  other. 

The  advantages  of  sound  nationality  over  strong  govern- 
ment were  the  subject  of  the  fullest  discussion  a  hun- 
dred years  ago.  The  feeble  rule  of  democracy  is  the 
strongest  of  all  governments  when  it  has  the  force  of  the 
popular  will  behind  it ;  when  this  fails  it  is  paralyzed  as 
all  government  should  be.  A  monarchy  is  more  effec- 
tive in  foreign  affairs  and  calls  out  better  service  thar\ 
democracy.  If  that  were  all  we  might  revert  to  mon- 
archy and  close  the  discussion.  But  that  is  not  all,  and 
every  move  toward  centralization  costs  on  the  other  side. 
The  essential  fact  of  monarchy  is  not  the  presence  of  the 
king,  but  the  absence  of  the  people  in  all  large  transactions. 

This  subject  has  been  ably  discussed  by  Goldwin 
Smith,  who  calls  special  attention  to  our  want  of  govern- 
mental apparatus  for  the  control  of  dependencies.  That 


114  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

we  car.not  have  such  apparatus  most  other  British  writers 
have  failed  to  note.  Imperialism  demands  the  powers 
of  an  emperor. 

"  The  British  Crown,  for  the  government  of  the  Indian  Em- 
pire, has  an  imperial  service  attached  to  it  as  a  monarchy,  and 
separate  from  the  services  which  are  under  the  immediate  con- 
trol of  Parliament.  British  India,  in  fact,  is  an  empire  by  itself ; 
governed  by  a  Viceroy  who  is  a  delegate  of  the  Crown,  exempt 
as  a  rule  from  the  influence  of  home  politics  and  reciprocally 
exercising  little  influence  over  them.  Before  the  Mutiny,  which 
broke  up  the  army  of  the  East  India  Company,  India  was  still 
the  dominion  of  that  Company ;  and  the  transfer  of  it  to  the 
Crown,  though  inevitable,  was  not  unaccompanied  by  serious 
misgiving  as  to  the  political  consequences  which  might  follow. 
Even  for  the  government  of  other  dependencies  Great  Britain 
has  men  like  the  late  Lord  Elgin,  detached  from  home  parties 
and  devoted  to  the  Imperial  Service.  In  her  dependencies  Great 
Britain  is,  in  fact,  still  a  monarchy,  though  at  home  she  has  be- 
come practically  a  republic.  In  the  case  of  the  United  States  it 
would  seem  hardly  possible  to  keep  the  imperial  service  free 
from  political  influence,  or,  reciprocally,  to  prevent  the  influence 
of  the  empire  on  politics  at  home.  Imperial  appointments  would 
almost  inevitably  be  treated  as  diplomatic  appointments  are 
treated  now." 

"  In  what,  after  all,"  continues  Goldwin  Smith,  "  does  the  pro- 
fit or  bliss  of  imperial  sway  consist  ?  The  final  blow  has  just 
been  dealt  to  the  miserable  and  helpless  remnant  of  that  empire 
on  which,  in  the  day  of  its  grandeur,  the  sun  was  said  never  to 
set,  and  to  which  Spanish  pride  has  always  desperately  clung.  It 
may  safely  be  said  that  not  the  expulsion  of  Moriscos  or  Jews, 
nor  even  the  despotism  of  the  Inquisition,  did  so  much  to  ruin 
Spain  as  the  imperial  ambition  which  perverted  the  energies  of 
her  people,  turning  them  from  domestic  industry  and  improve- 
ment to  rapacious  aggrandizement  abroad.  The  political  and 
religious  tyranny  was,  in  fact,  largely  the  consequence  of  the  im- 
perial position  of  the  monarchy,  which,  by  the  enormous  extent 
of  its  dominions  and  its  uncontrolled  sources  of  revenue,  was 
lifted  above  the  nation." 


A  BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  1 15 

In  the  conduct  of  the  war  and  the  peace  negotiations 
which  followed  it  we  have  examples  of  the  conditions  of 
colonial  rule.  At  no  step  since  the  beginning  has  the 
American  people  been  consulted.  At  no  point  has  con- 
sultation been  possible.  In  managing  affairs  like  this 
there  can  be  no  divided  councils.  The  responsible  head 
must  rule,  and  it  matters  not  a  straw  what  is  the  wish  of 
the  people  who  foot  the  bills.  The  only  check  on  the 
Executive  is  the  certainty  that  the  people  will  have  the 
last  word.  What  you  think  or  I  think  or  the  people 
think  of  the  whole  business  cuts  no  figure  whatever  in 
the  progress  of  events,  because  our  opinion  can  at  no 
time  be  asked.  After  all,  we  are  not  so  much  worried 
because  we  have  not  asked  the  consent  of  the  people  of 
the  Philippines.  It  is  because  the  American  people 
have  not  been  consulted.  In  a  matter  most  vital  to  the 
life  of  the  nation  they  are  represented  only  by  the  rabble 
of  the  streets.  When  their  consent  should  be  asked 
they  are  told  that  it  is  too  late  to  say,  No  ! 

But  there  are  many  wise  economists  who  would  make 
permanent  just  this  condition  of  affairs.  The  certainty 
that  success  in  colonial  matters  would  take  them  abso- 
lutely out  of  the  hands  of  the  people  is  their  argument 
for  imperial  expansion  as  opposed  to  democracy. 

Through  concentration  of  power  in  the  Executive  we 
may  be  able  to  make  of  Havana  and  Manila  clean  and 
orderly  cities.  Shall  we  not  by  similar  means  sooner  or 
later  purify  San  Francisco  and  New  York?  If  martial 
law  is  good  for  Luzon  or  for  Santiago,  why  not  for  Wil- 
mington, or  Virden,  or  even  for  Boston  ? 

If  military  methods  will  clean  up  Havana  and  Santiago, 
why  not  use  them  for  the  slums  of  all  cities  ?  If  it  is  our 


Il6  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

"  white  man's  burden  "  to  make  the  black  man  work  in 
the  tropics,  why  not  make  white  men  work  outside  of 
the  tropics?  If  we  furnish  public  employment  in  the 
tropics,  forcing  the  unemployed  to  accept  it,  why  not  do 
the  same  with  the  unemployed  everywhere?  Why  not 
makes  slaves  of  all  who  fail  to  carry  the  black  man's 
burden  of  toil  ? 

To  be  good,  it  is  argued,  government  must  first  be 
strong,  and  the  difficulties  before  us  will  demand  and  at 
last  secure  the  strong  hand. 

Impressed  by  the  weakness  and  corruption  of  popular 
government  these  economists  wish,  at  any  cost,  to  limit 
it.  To  decide  by  popular  vote  scientific  questions  like 
the  basis  of  coinage,  the  nature  of  the  tariff,  the  control 
of  corporations,  is  to  dispose  of  them  in  the  most  unscien- 
tific way  possible.  The  vote  of  a  majority  really  settles 
nothing,  and  a  decision  which  the  next  election  may  re- 
verse exposes  us  to  the  waste  which  vacillation  always 
entails. 

It  is  said  that  in  the  ideal  of  the  fathers  our  govern- 
ment was  not  a  democracy.  It  was  a  representative  re- 
public, and  the  system  of  representation  was  expressly 
designed  to  take  the  settlement  of  specific  affairs  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  people.  It  was  not  the  part  of  the 
people  to  decide  public  questions,  but  to  send  "  their 
wisest  men  to  make  the  public  laws."  Nowadays  this 
ideal  condition  has  been  lost.  The  people  no  longer 
think  of  choosing  their  wisest  men  for  any  public  purpose. 
They  try  to  choose  those  who  will  do  their  bidding. 

The  daily  newspaper  and  the  telegraph  carry  to  every 
man's  hand  something  of  the  happenings  of  every  day 
the  world  over.  On  the  basis  of  such  partial  information 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY. 

every  man  forms  his  own  opinion  on  every  subject.  These 
opinions  for  the  most  part  are  crude,  prejudiced,  and  in- 
complete ;  but  they  serve  as  a  basis  for  public  action. 
The  common  man's  horizon  is  no  longer  bounded  by  the 
affairs  of  the  village,  to  be  settled  in  town-meeting  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  expectations  of  the  fathers.  He  knows 
something  about  all  the  affairs  of  state,  and  as  local  affairs 
receive  scant  notice  in  the  newspapers  it  is  these  which 
he  neglects  and  forgets.  The  town-meeting  has  decayed 
through  the  growth  of  newspaper  information,  the  intro- 
duction of  the  voter  to  broader  interests — interests  less 
vital  no  doubt  to  the  average  man  but  more  potent  to 
affect  his  fancy. 

Having  opinions  of  his  own,  however  crude,  on  all 
public  questions,  the  citizen  demands  that  his  represen- 
tatives should  carry  out  these  opinions.  If  he  has,  or 
thinks  he  has,  a  financial  interest  in  any  line  of  policy, 
he  will  vote  for  men  whose  interests  are  the  same  as  his. 
In  such  manner  Congress  has  become  not  an  assembly 
of  "the  wisest  men  to  make  the 'public  laws,"  but  a 
gathering  of  attorneys,  each  pledged  to  some  local  or 
corporate  interest,  and  each  doing  his  best,  or  appearing 
to  do  it,  to  carry  out  lines  of  policy  dictated  by  others. 
This  condition  the  fathers  could  not  foresee.  The  tele- 
graph and  the  newspaper  have  brought  it  about.  It  has 
great  disadvantages,  but  it  cannot  be  helped  and  it  is 
with  us  to  stay. 

Because  of  this  condition  economists  of  a  certain  type 
welcome  all  extensions  of  administrative  functions.  They 
would  prescribe  a  dose  of  Imperialism  to  stiffen  the  back 
of  our  democracy.  If  we  complicate  the  duties  of 
government,  if  we  plunge  into  delicate  and  dangerous 


Il8  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

foreign  relations,  our  failures  and  humiliation  will  increase 
the  demand  for  skill.  The  business  of  horse-stealing 
quickens  a  man's  eye  and  improves  his  horsemanship. 
In  such  fashion  the  business  of  land- grabbing  improves 
diplomacy.  The  old  idea  of  representation  by  statesmen 
unpledged  to  any  line  of  action  will  arise  again.  The 
choice  of  attorneys  will  be  limited  to  local  assemblies, 
and  real  leaders  of  parties  will  come  to  the  front. 

Such  a  change  England  has  seen  since  her  aggressive 
foreign  policy  forced  upon  her  the  need  of  eternal  vigi- 
lance. Such  a  change  makes  for  better  government  at 
the  expense  of  popular  choice.  "  This  may  not  be  re- 
publicanism," say  Lummis,  speaking  of  the  work  of  Diaz 
in  Mexico,  "  but  it  is  business."  The  ruler  of  England 
is  not  the  people's  choice  nor  the  choice  of  the  Queen. 
He  is  the  cleverest  mouthpiece  of  the  dominant  oligarchy. 

It  is  currently  said  that  British  imperial  experiences 
have  caused  the  purification  of  British  politics  and  the 
expulsion  from  them  of  the  spoils  system.  For  this 
statement  there  is  no  foundation  in  fact.  It  is  through 
the  growth  of  individual  intelligence  in  a  compact  homo- 
geneous nation  that  higher  political  ideas  have  arisen. 
It  is  through  the  pressure  of  money  that  waste  of  public 
funds  has  been  checked.  The  conquest  of  tropical 
races  has  accompanied  this,  but  has  been  in  no  degree 
its  cause.  As  well  claim  for  colonial  dominion  that  it 
has  abolished  imprisonment  for  debt,  as  that  it  has 
purified  the  civil  service.  On  this  important  question 
I  present  the  following  quotation  from  a  paper  of  Dr. 
George  Elliott  Howard,  on  "  British  Imperialism  and 
the  Reform  of  the  Civil  Service." 

*  Published  in  the  Political  Science  Quarterly,  June,  1899. 


A   BLIND   MANS   HOLIDAY.  1 19 

"  DISTINGUISHED  teachers  of  political  and  social  science 
are  asserting  that  besides  the  alleged  economic  and  other 
advantages  sure  to  come  from  the  adoption  of  a '  colonial ' 
policy  by  the  United  States,  there  will  follow  a  purifica- 
tion of  our  civil  service,  an  elevation  and  regeneration 
of  our  entire  national  administrative  system.  For  '  re- 
sponsibility,' we  are  assured,  '  is  a  powerful  moralizing 
influence.'  In  proof  of  this  doctrine  the  experience  of 
Great  Britain  is  appealed  to.  At  first,  it  is  conceded, 
there  will  undoubtedly  be  '  corruption  and  scandals  '  in 
our  colonial  governments ;  but,  continues  Professor  Gid- 
dings,  '  so  far  from  despairing  of  the  republic  if  we  enter 
into  more  complicated  and  more  delicate  relations  to 
world  politics,  we  may  rather  anticipate  that  the  change 
will  prove  to  be  precisely  what  was  needed,  and  that  our 
new  responsibilities  will  operate  more  surely  and  more 
continuously  than  any  other  influences  to  improve  the 
morale  and  the  wisdom  of  American  administration.  In 
this  belief  we  are  supported  by  the  experience  of  British 
Colonial  government.  As  every  student  of  history  knows, 
the  age  of  Walpole  was  marked  by  corruption  greater  and 
apparently  more  irremediable  than  any  which  we  have 
yet  known  in  American  political  life.  Who  could  have 
predicted  that,  after  a  century  of  continuous  territorial 
expansion,  with  a  correspondingly  rapid  multiplication 
of  official  positions,  the  administrative  side  of  British 
government,  instead  of  becoming  hopelessly  incapable 
under  the  increasing  strain,  would  have  become  the  purest 
and  most  nearly  perfect  mechanism  thus  far  known  in 
political  history?  Have  we,  then,  any  right  to  despair 
of  our  own  experiment,  under  a  similar  broadening  of 
opportunities  and  responsibilities  ?  If  we  have,  our  esti- 
9 


120  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

mate  of  American  character  must  be  a  sorry  one.'  Yet 
compared  with  the  colonial  empire  of  Great  Britain,  the 
territory  and  the  population  which  we  may  be  called  upon 
to  administer  is  very  small.  Therefore,  '  if  the  republi- 
can form  of  government  is  to  be  undermined  and  des- 
troyed in  a  nation  of  70,000,000  of  the  most  resourceful, 
energetic  and,  all  in  all,  conscientious  human  beings 
that  have  yet  lived  upon  this  planet,  under  the  strain 
of  devising  and  administering  a  workable  territorial 
government  for  outlying  island  possessions  of  such 
modest  dimensions  as  these,  it  would  appear  that  our 
estimate  of  the  excellence  and  stability  of  republican 
institutions  must  have  been  a  grotesque  exaggera- 
tion.'* 

"  Already  the  argument  of  Professor  Giddings  that 
wider  responsibility  will  prove  a  great  moral  stimulant  in 
the  regeneration  of  our  domestic  civil  service,  with 
appeal  to  the  alleged  example  of  Great  Britain,  has  be- 
come a  favorite  one  among  American  expansionists. 
Some  of  them  even  go  the  length  of  declaring  that  Imper- 
ialism has  been  almost  the  sole  cause  of  the  rise  of  the 
admirable  civil  system  of  Great  Britain.  Yet,  with  sincere 
respect  for  the  candor  and  learning  of  the  scholars  who 
have  set  up  this  theory — for  facts  have  not  been  forthcom- 
ing,— it  seems  very  clear  that  there  has  seldom  been 
committed  a  more  dangerous  perversion  of  history.  In 
the  main,  it  is  a  striking  illustration  of  the  fallacy  oipost 
hoc  ergo  propter  hoc  ;  though  it  would  indeed  be  strange 
if  three  centuries  of  British  Imperialism,  with  its  awful 
mistakes,  its  colossal  crimes,  and  its  vast  "  successes," 

*  Professor  Franklin  P.  Giddings,  American  Imperialism:  in 
Polit.  Science  Quarterly,  December,  1898^.601-603. 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  121 

should  not  have  afforded  to  society  some  useful 
lessons. 

"  The  fact  is  the  purification  of  the  British  administra- 
tive system  has  come  as  one  of  the  results  of  moral  and 
social  evolution.  Whatever  throughout  the  ages  has 
been  the  subtle  and  complex  cause  of  the  rise  of  a  loftier 
standard  of  social  righteousness  among  the  children  of 
men  has  contributed  to  this  result.  In  other  words,  the 
renovation  of  the  British  civil  service  has  come  as  the 
gift  of  triumphant  democracy.  In  political  history,  the 
spirit  of  social  righteousness  and  the  democratic  spirit 
are  so  closely  related  that  it  is  not  always  easy  to  say 
which  has  been  the  cause  and  which  the  effect.  For  the 
point  under  consideration,  they  are  practically  inter- 
changeable terms. 

"  It  is  quite  impossible  in  this  short  space  even  to  touch 
upon  the  many  details,  crowding  the  pages  of  English 
social,  economic,  and  constitutional  history,  which  estab- 
lish beyond  question  the  view  here  presented.  Only  the 
trend  which  a  full  inquiry  would  take  can  here  be  noted. 
In  the  outset,  it  may  be  stated  as  morally  certain,  that 
the  rise  of  the  British  empire,  beginning  with  the  charter 
of  the  East  India  Company  in  1600  and  the  settlement 
of  the  first  permanent  colony  in  America  a  few  years 
later,  greatly  favored  the  perpetuity  of  the  ancient  spoils 
system,  which  had  its  source  in  the  so-called  '  prero- 
gative' of  the  king.  That  patronage  in  Church  and 
State  should  be  determined  by  favoritism  and  not  by 
merit  was  a  matter  of  course  in  the  Middle  Ages.  This 
doctrine  was  lived  up  to  by  kings  and  prelates  with 
brutal  frankness.  It  was  sanctioned  by  the  social 
morality  of  the  times.  It  was  the  morality  of  despotism, 


122  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

which,  though  disguised,  survived  in  England  for  eight 
hundred  years  after  the  Conquest  before  it  yielded  to 
the  influence  of  democracy.  '  To  say  that  a  man  is  en- 
titled to  an  office  simply  because  he  is  a  man  of  worth 
and  capacity  and  not  otherwise,'  says  Eaton,  '  is  in 
principle  to  say  that  he  is  entitled  to  become  a  knight, 
a  baron,  a  duke,  or  a  king  for  the  same  reason — obviously 
a  principle  as  utterly  repugnant  to  the  theory  of  all 
arbitrary  governments  as  it  is  essential  to  the  prosperity 
of  a  republic.  Therefore  the  spoils  system  was  the  nat- 
ural outgrowth  of  despotism  and  aristocracy.  It  is  in  its 
very  nature  a  royal  and  aristocratic  and  not  a  republican 
agency  of  government.'* 

"  The  medieval  theory  of  patronage  was  in  full  force 
at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  when  the 
foundations  of  the  British  empire  were  laid  and  James 
Stuart,  with  his  dogma  of  the  *  divine  prerogative,'  as- 
cended the  English  throne ;  for  under  the  Tudors, 
instead  of  reform,  there  was  a  corruption  of  the  public 
service,  local  and  central,  even  deeper  than  had  existed 
since  before  the  House  of  Lancaster  came  to  power. 
The  rise  of  the  new  empire  increased  the  value  of  the 
royal  prerogative  because  it  increased  the  royal  patron- 
age. This  is  a  fact  of  primary  significance  in  account- 
ing for  the  astonishing  tenacity  of  the  spoils  system. 
The  new  world  was  parceled  out  through  the  royal  char- 
ters ;  and  it  was  ruled  in  part  and  in  varying  degree  by 
the  king's  favorites.  By  the  side  of  the  old  hereditary 
privileged  class  arose  a  new  privileged  class,  a  bourgeoi- 
sie or  mercantile  plutocracy,  fattening  itself  on  the  spoils 
of  colonial  and  imperial  trade,  which  was  taking  the 

*  Eaton,  Civil  Service  in  Great  Britain  (N.  Y.,  1880),  p.  40. 


A  BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  123 

place  of  the  '  monopolies '  of  the  Elizabethan  age. 
This  new  privileged  order  became  the  ally  of  the  despot- 
ism which  called  it  into  being.  It  is  true  in  fact  that 
the  planting  of  the  American  colonies  under  commercial 
charters  by  the  three  Stuarts  gave  a  great  opportunity  to 
democracy — but  not  in  England.  If  the  spirit  of  demo- 
cracy became  fierce  in  America,  and  the  colonists  en- 
joyed the  practical  benefits  of  self-government,  these 
blessings  were  the  result  of  their  circumstances,  of  their 
isolation,  not  of  the  beneficent  purposes  of  the  king. 
According  to  the  colonial  theory,  adopted  by  the  Crown 
and  by  Parliament,  Englishmen  who  left  the  old  home 
to  conquer  a  new  one,  to  face  the  dangers  and  hard- 
ships of  the  wilderness,  became  ipso  facto  an  inferior 
class  of  British  subjects.  Instead  of  being  generously 
treated,  they  were  to  be  exploited  for  the  benefit  of 
those  who  stayed  at  home,  partly  on  the  alleged  ground 
of  exemption  from  imperial  burdens.  If  they  flourished, 
it  was  because  the  king  was  too  indifferent  or  too  busy 
to  enforce  his  theory.  Perhaps  for  the  moment  there 
was  in  this  course  a  positive  advantage.  The  same  big- 
oted and  pedantic  James,  who  drove  the  Separatists  to 
Holland,  was  willing  that  they  and  the  Puritans  should 
go  to  America  and  practise  their  beliefs.  It  will 
scarcely  be  questioned  that  the  withdrawal  of  so  many 
thousand  sturdy  enemies  of  prerogative  to  settle  the  New 
England  was  a  real  gain  to  absolutism  and  gave  a  longer 
lease  of  life  to  prerogative  and  the  spoils  system.  What 
would  have  been  the  result  had  there  been  no  empire 
and  had  the  Puritan  and  the  Pilgrim  been  compelled  to 
cast  in  their  lot  with  Cromwell  ?  And  a  like  question 
must  be  asked  again  and  again  during  the  next  two  cen- 


124  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

turies  and  a  half  as  the  empire  expands  and  the  most 
courageous  and  enlightened  children  of  Britain  go  forth 
to  seek  their  fortunes  in  every  zone  of  the  habitable 
globe.  Whatever  compensations  they  or  the  world  may 
have  gained  by  this  process,  it  is  certain  that  the  social 
movement  at  home  would  have  been  different  had  they 
there  remained.  Is  it  not  highly  probable  that  the  re- 
sistance of  prerogative  to  the  rising  tide  of  democracy 
has  been  greatly  protracted  by  it? 

"  It  is  coolly  assumed  by  the  advocates  of  the  theory 
under  consideration  that  the  bracing  and  broadening 
effects  of  British  expansion  soon  made  themselves  felt. 
We  get  the  impression  that  the  character  of  English 
domestic  administration  was  affected  by  it  in  a  reasona- 
ble time ;  as  if  the  British  experiment  of  empire  were 
something  which  might  well  be  imitated  by  us  as  a 
proper  and  rational  means  to  an  important  end.  Only 
"  at  first,"  we  are  led  to  believe,  may  we  expect  to 
find  corruption  in  the  management  of  our  new  empire ; 
while  at  home,  we  infer,  the  evils  of  our  present  civil 
service  will  presently  disappear.  Therefore  we  are  ex- 
pected to  marvel  that  within  a  hundred  years  of  Robert 
Walpole  British  civil  service  rose  from  its  lowest  level  of 
corruption  and  inefficiency  to  a  point  of  excellence  never 
anywhere  attained  in  history  before.  In  the  first  place, 
it  is  well  to  remember  that  when  the  rule  of  Walpole 
closed,  England's  colonial  empire  had  already  been  in 
existence  nearly  a  century  and  a  half ;  and  that  if  gov- 
ernment under  Walpole  had  actually  reached  an  abyss 
of  cynical  depravity,  lower  even  than  that  which  dis- 
graced the  reign  of  the  Stuarts,  the  fact,  prima  fade, 
may  well  lead  the  observer  to  a  very  different  conclu- 


A   BLIND    MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  125 

sion  from  that  which  the  expansionists  have  drawn. 
One  might  be  tempted  off-hand  to  infer  that,  under  the 
stimulus  of  colonial  empire,  the  royal  prerogative  had  by 
the  time  of  Walpole  brought  the  British  civil  service  to 
its  nadir  of  abasement,  from  which,  notwithstanding  the 
growth  of  democracy  and  general  social  culture,  it  has 
required  more  than  another  century  to  raise  it.  Indeed 
there  is  abundant  evidence  of  the  kind  already  suggested 
to  show  that  such  an  inference  would  not  come  far  short 
of  the  truth. 

"  It  is  very  significant  that  a  thorough  reform  in  the 
British  civil  service,  either  in  India  or  at  home,  was  not 
effected  until  after  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury :  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  beginning  of 
the  empire.  Verily  the  mills  of  the  gods  grind  slowly. 
The  lesson  of  moral  discipline  and  responsibility  was 
slow  in  learning.  Only  in  1853  was  the  system  of  open 
competitive  examination  of  candidates  for  the  India 
service  resolved  upon ;  although  some  years  earlier  a 
partial  reform  had  taken  place.  In  1855  the  new  plan 
was  put  in  force.  But  the  change  came  too  late  to  pre- 
vent the  horrible  Sepoy  massacre  of  1857, — the  last 
scene  in  the  tragic  history  of  the  India  Company  whose 
charter  was  surrendered  in  the  following  year.  It  was 
in  1853,  likewise,  that  the  first  step  was  taken  towards 
an  effective  reform  in  the  method  of  choosing  members 
of  the  domestic  civil  service.  A  parliamentary  commit- 
tee made  an  inquiry  into  the  state  of  the  existing  serv- 
ice and  recommended  a  system  of  open  competitive 
examinations.  No  action  was  taken  by  parliament ;  but 
in  1855,  by  an  order  in  council,  a  civil  service  commis- 
sion was  appointed,  under  whose  direction  all  candidates 


126  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

for  junior  positions  in  the  departments  were  to  be  exam- 
ined before  they  could  receive  a  probationary  appoint- 
ment for  six  months.  The  order,  however,  did  not 
provide  for  "open"  competition  as  recommended. 
Only  a  limited  number  of  candidates — in  practise 
three  or  more — could  compete  for  each  place ;  and 
these  were  "  nominated  "  by  the  heads  of  the  different 
offices.  Thus  "patronage  was  still  permitted  to  have 
full  sway  in  the  nomination  of  the  candidates.  Appoint- 
ments might  still  be  made  for  political  and  personal 
reasons  as  freely  as  before.  The  only  condition  imposed 
was  that  the  nominee  should  obtain  a  certificate  of  qual- 
ification from  the  civil  service  commission."  *  Yet  the 
experiment  proved  encouraging;  and  improvements 
were  made  from  time  to  time.  But  it  was  not  until 
1870  that  patronage  received  its  death-blow  through  the 
adoption  of  the  system  of  open  competition.  From  the 
fall  of  Lord  North  onward  many  reforms  in  matters  of 
detail,  both  in  the  imperial  and  the  domestic  adminis- 
tration, had  been  made.  Bribery  in  particular  and  var- 
ious forms  of  pecuniary  corruption  had  been  severely 
checked.  Still,  in  1853,  many  years  after  parliamentary 
and  municipal,  as  well  as  many  social  and  industrial, 
reforms  had  been  accomplished,  the  evils  of  patronage 
were  grave  indeed.  For  the  Indian  service,  the  incom- 
petent and  the  illiterate  were  "  nominated  "  to  compete 
in  the  restricted  examinations  then  in  use.  "In  the 
years  1851  to  1854,  both  inclusive,  437  gentlemen 
were  examined  for  direct  commission  in  the  Indian 
army;  of  this  number  132  failed  in  English,  and  234  in 

*  Graves  (E.  O.),  How  it  was  done  in   Great  Britain :  in  Scrib* 
ner>s  Monthly,  Vol.  XIV,  p.  243. 


A  BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  I2/ 

Arithmetic.  The  return  requires  no  comment."  *  There 
was,  in  short,  declares  Eaton,  "  a  hotbed  of  abuses  pro- 
lific of  influences  which  caused  the  fearful  outbreak  of 
1857."!  Even  more  serious  abuses  existed  in  the  do- 
mestic service.  | 

"  The  reform  of  the  British  civil  service  beginning  in 
1853  appears  clearly  in  the  discussions  of  the  times  as 
a  democratic  movement.  It  came  as  the  gain  of  the 
plain  man  at  the  expense  of  privilege,  although  some 
members  of  the  privileged  classes  were  among  its  cham- 
pions. It  was  distinctly  regarded  by  its  enemies  as  an- 
other onslaught  on  the  royal  prerogative.  A  noble  privy 
councilor,  after  sneeringly  declaring  that  '  the  world  we 
live  in  is  not .  .  .  half  moralized  enough  for  the  acceptance 
of  a  scheme  of  such  stern  morality  as  this,'  reveals  his 
true  sentiment  by  exclaiming,  '  why  add  another  to  the 
many  recent  sacrifices  of  the  royal  prerogative  ? '  §  It 
was  a  victory  for  social  righteousness,  under  guidance 
of  the  best  thought  and  the  most  enlightened  conscience 
of  England.  Among  its  prominent  supporters  were 
members  of  the  universities,  philosophers  like  John 
Stuart  Mill,  and  humanitarian  scientists  like  Mill's 
friend,  the  sanitary  reformer,  Edwin  Chadwick,  who 
had  advocated  the  system  of  open  competitive  exami- 
nations as  early  as  1827.]!  It  is  instructive  that  trial  of 
this  plan  in  the  Indian  service,  fifteen  years  before  it 
was  possible  to  do  so  in  the  home  administration,  was 

*  Civil  Service  Papers,  pp.  21-2  :  cited  by  Eaton,  p.  178. 

t  Eaton,  Civil  Service,  178. 

J  Civil  Service  Papers,  pp.  21-2  :  cited  by  Eaton,  189. 

§  Eaton,  Civil  Service,  196-7. 

||  Molesworth,  Hist,  of  England,  III.,  126-7. 


128  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

largely  due  to  the  fact  that  prerogative  had  less  at  stake 
while  Indian  offices  were  still  nominally  under  the  patron- 
age of  the  Directors  of  the  East  India  Company.  The 
"government,"  says  Molesworth,  "which  would  proba- 
bly have  strenuously  resisted  such  an  attempt  to  interfere 
with  its  patronage  in  England,  consented,  without  much 
reluctance,  to  a  trial  of  the  experiment  in  India.* 

"  In  the  days  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  well-mean- 
ing proslavery  expansionists,  while  yielding  to  the  clamor 
of  the  South  for  more  territory,  soothed  their  consciences 
with  the  deceitful  dream  that,  were  importations  of 
foreign  negroes  cut  off,  the  evils  of  American  bondage 
would  be  lessened  by  spreading  it  over  the  new  lands  of 
the  west.  Even  Clay  and,  in  his  old  age,  Jefferson  were 
beguiled  by  an  illusion  which  has  long  since  passed  into 
history  as  one  of  the  most  curious  fallacies  which  politi- 
cal casuistry  has  ever  conceived.  Yet  the  belief  that 
the  evils  of  slavery  could  be  mitigated  by  *  dilution ' 
bears  a  remarkable  likeness  to  the  theory  of  the  modern 
expansionists.  We  cannot  get  rid  of  the  spoils  system 
by  '  dilution ;  '  by  throwing  open  to  partisan  greed  rich 
and  distant  fields  whose  helpless  inhabitants  may  not  be 
even  partially  protected  from  exploitation  by  the  posses- 
sion of  the  ballot.  It  is  no  doubt  true,  should  we  retain 
Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines,  that  American  genius, 
energy,  and  courage  will  in  the  end  solve  the  problem 
of  giving  them  fairly  good  government.  Nor  will  it  be 
wise  to  assume  that  even  in  the  outset  American  admin- 
istration would  be  marked  by  the  rapacity  of  a  Clive  or 
a  Hastings.  But,  considering  the  present  state  of 
American  political  ethics,  new  and  sinister  glimpses  of 
*  Molesworth,  Hist,  of  Eng.t  III.,  126  7. 


A   BLIND    MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  1 29 

which  have  recently  been  revealed  in  the  war  investiga- 
tion scandals,  we  are  forced  to  believe  that  frightful 
abuses  in  the  management  of  our  '  Colonies,'  would 
follow  and  that  a  new  lease  of  life  would  be  given  to 
mal-administration  at  home. 

"  Moreover,  if  we  are  to  read  the  lesson  of  British 
Imperialism  aright,  it  is  needful  to  avoid  another  common 
and  alluring  fallacy.  Doubtless  all  human  experience  is 
in  some  way  profitable  to  the  race.  Social  crime  and 
social  virtue  may  each  in  the  end  confer  a  social  benefit. 
It  by  no  means  follows,  however,  for  the  sake  of  the 
lesson,  that  crime  and  virtue  are  alike  to  be  imitated. 
Doubtless,  as  Professor  Giddings  reminds  us,  all  great 
national  or  social  changes  have  come  in  obedience  to 
historic  forces  and  are  as  inevitable  as  a  hurricane  or 
the  change  of  the  seasons.  Doubtless  vast  social  move- 
ments, great  national  policies,  the  rise  and  fall  of  em- 
pires, regardless  of  the  sufferings  and  the  crimes  which 
may  attend  them,  are  in  harmony  with  the  law  of  '  social 
struggle,'  and  their  ultimate  results  the  '  survival  of  the 
fittest.'  It  does  not  follow,  however,  that  '  artificial 
selection  '  on  the  part  of  self-conscious  society  should 
imitate  the  methods  of  cosmic  evolution.  It  may  be 
that  Attila  or  Jenghiz  Khan  with  their  Tartar  hordes 
taught  the  Aryan  men  of  Christian  Europe  some  lessons 
— especially  that  of  unity — which  they  sorely  needed  to 
learn.  Still,  the  modern  moralist  will  scarcely  prescribe 
the  'Scourge  of  God'  to  cure  similar  ills  in  existing 
society.  It  may  be  also,  as  Bishop  Stubbs  suggests,  that 
the  Norman  Duke  *  forced  out '  the  latent  energies  of 
the  English  race,  stimulated  the  sense  of  liberty  and 
nationality,  and  by  rough  discipline  whipped  the  native 


130  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

populations  into  shape  to  preserve  and  develop  all  that 
was  good  in  English  institutions ;  and  it  may  be  that  Na- 
poleon, that  '  heaven-sent  law-giver  from  Corsica,'  was 
just  the  cosmic  force  needed  to  free  Europe  from  the 
bondage  of  feudal  privilege  and  prerogative.  Still,  a 
democratic  American  will  scarcely  commend  either 
William  or  Bonaparte  as  a  social  missionary.  One  may 
concede  that  a  reactionary  George  III  was  needed  to 
force  the  American  colonists  into  united  action,  to  mold 
the  feeble  spirit  of  resistance  to  administrative  abuses 
into  a  national  sentiment  of  independence,  in  order  that 
the  American  republic  might  be  born.  Still,  if  here  is  a 
lesson  for  imitation,  it  is  a  lesson  for  the  Filipinos  and 
not  for  us.  It  may  be  that  Canada,  New  Zealand,  and 
the  other  free,  self-governing  colonies  dominated  by  men 
of  English  blood,  are  the  splendid  product  of  the  im- 
perial expansion  of  England.  But  we  must  not  forget 
that  the  existing  liberal  colonial  policy  of  Great  Britain 
came  only  after  she  tasted  the  bitter  fruit  of  the  Ameri- 
can revolution.*  It  is  indeed  true,  as  John  Fiske  insists, 
that  the  battle  of  Yorktown  was  in  the  end  a  victory  for 
democracy  on  both  sides  the  sea.  The  old  mercantile 
or  restrictive  system  was  doomed — though  it  died  very 
hard.  Reforms  were  set  on  foot  by  Pitt  and  Burke 
which  might  have  anticipated  the  reform  bill  of  1832  by 
half  a  century,  had  not  the  panic  caused  by  the  French 
revolution  drawn  away  the  energy  of  the  nation  into  the 
struggle  with  Napoleon :  thus  fostering  into  renewed 
vigor  the  spirit  of  militarism  and  the  thirst  for  conquest 
• — the  twin  vices  of  imperialism — and  gaining  a  respite  for 

*  See  especially  Sir  George  Trevelyan,  The  American  Revolu- 
tion, Part  I.  (N.  J.,  1899). 


A  BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  131 

prerogative  in  its  deadly  struggle  with  democracy.  Yet 
the  effect  of  the  successful  revolt  of  the  American  colo- 
nies did  not  at  once  lead  to  the  grant  of  political  liberty, 
of  responsible  self-government,  to  those  which  re- 
mained loyal.  On  the  contrary  a  strict  paternalism  was 
adopted  as  a  policy.  '  Politically  the  Colonies  were  no 
longer  to  be  treated  "with  salutary  neglect."  They 
were  to  be  watched,  that  the  first  signs  of  discontent 
might  be  crushed,  and  a  repetition  of  the  American 
disaster  prevented.'  *  Commercially  a  system  was  set 
up  which  has  been  happily  called  a  system  of  '  recip- 
rocity in  advantage.'  f  A  differential  tariff  actually 
gave  the  Canadian  and  the  other  northern  colonists  an 
advantage  at  the  expense  of  the  London  consumer; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  England  retained  a  monopoly 
of  the  colonial  trade,  giving  her  a  theoretical  but  not  a 
real  advantage  for  it  would  naturally  have  come  to 
her  without  governmental  interference.  Against  both 
elements  of  this  illogical  system  the  English  reformers 
arose,  and,  after  more  than  fifty  years '  struggle,  gained 
a  complete  victory.  Now,  it  is  a  remarkable  proof  of 
the  view  here  presented  as  to  the  influence  of  the  colonial 
empire  on  the  domestic  civil  service,  that  these  refor- 
mers resisted  the  new  paternalism,  because  ( they  found 
that  the  patronage  which  the  home  government  controlled 
in  the  Colonies  was  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  cor- 
ruption in  England.  To  abolish  the  colonial  patronage 
was  to  weaken  the  government  at  home ;  and  the  struggle 
for  colonial  constitutional  government  was  a  part  of  the 

*  Davidson,  England  and  her  Colonies,    1783-1897:  in   Polit. 
Science  Quarterly,  March,  1899,  pp.  42-3. 
t  By  Professor  Davidson,  Op.  cit.,  p.  51. 


132  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

general  struggle  for  political  freedom.  From  the  time 
of  Fox  onwards,  there  is  a  continuous  protest  against  the 
tyranny  of  the  political  system  in  the  Colonies ;  and  the 
protest  was  the  more  vigorous,  because  the  system 
seemed  to  exist  solely  for  the  benefit  of  the  place-hun- 
ters.' *  " 

"  Let  us  beware  how  we  misread  the  lesson  of  British 
imperialism,  and  especially  that  part  of  it  afforded  by  the 
American  revolution ;  lest,  to  our  shame  in  the  eyes  of 
the  nations,  some  dusky  Patrick  Henry  of  the  tropics 
arise  to  teach  us  its  true  moral."  (GEORGE  ELLIOTT 
HOWARD.) 

In  the  British  system,  the  Parliament  of  the  people  is 
behind  the  Premier,  who  can  act  as  freely,  as  boldly  and 
as  quickly  as  he  dare.  In  the  Federal  system,  the  Con- 
gress of  the  people  stands  first  and  the  President  acts 
behind  them  and  by  their  permission.  Only  in  time  of 
war  are  these  conditions  reversed  and  then  only  partially. 
For  this  reason  the  severe  blame  visited  on  the  President 
for  failure  to  declare  any  tangible  policy,  in  regard  to  the 
Philippines  is  only  partially  deserved. 

A  movement  toward  the  British  system  would  require 
changes  in  the  Constitution,  a  movement  toward  further 
centralization  and  toward  greater  party  responsibility. 
This  its  advocates  usually  recognize.  "  It  may  not  be 
republicanism,  but  it  is  business."  Such  a  change,  it  is 
maintained,  would  soon  do  away  with  our  poisonous  and 
shameful  spoils  system.  It  would  insure  strong,  sound, 
and  dignified  party  administration,  because  anything 
short  of  this  would  ruin  party  or  country.  Under  such 
conditions  no  place-hunter  could  hold  a  seat  in  our 
*  Davidson,  Op.  Cit.,  p.  44. 


A  BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  133 

cabinets,  no  weakling  could  thrust  himself  foiward  in 
our  civil  service,  and  our  Presidents  would  be  men 
who  would  make  public  opinion,  never  supinely  wait  for 
it,  still  less  accept  its  vulgar  counterfeit  of  mob  opinion. 

With  such  conditions  in  the  Executive,  and  an  au- 
tomatic, persistent,  competent  colonial  service,  with  army 
and  navy  to  match,  we  could  dictate  to  the  whole  earth. 
We  could  have  our  hand  in  the  affairs  of  all  nations,  and 
the  diplomacy  of  all  the  world  would  tremble  at  our 
frown. 

All  this  in  its  essence,  it  is  claimed,  is  to  return  to  the 
ideals  of  the  fathers  before  Jackson's  vulgarity  corrupted 
our  civil  service,  and  before  Lincoln's  "bath  of  the 
people  "  led  the  common  man  to  regard  himself  as  the 
main  factor  in  our  government.  "  Of  the  people,  by  the 
people,"  were  Lincoln's  additions.  The  right  word  is 
"  Government  for  the  people,"  and  by  those  who  know 
better  than  the  people  how  the  people  should  be  gov- 
erned. 

In  this  vein  we  are  told  that  the  people  have  been 
"  debauched  by  freedom."  They  have  come  to  fear  the 
bugaboo  of  too  much  government,  too  much  army.  Be- 
cause we  are  "debauched  by  freedom"  we  have  lost  our 
respect  for  authority,  our  respect  for  law. 

Some  of  our  historians  now  assure  us  that  government 
by  the  consent  of  the  governed  was  only  a  catch-phrase. 
We  never  meant  what  we  said  when  we  took  these  glit- 
tering generalities  from  the  philosophers  of  France.  We 
governed  our  Louisiana  territory  just  as  we  pleased  with 
these  phrases  in  our  mouths,  asking  no  advice  of  the 
French  Creoles.  We  never  sought  consent  of  the  Indian. 
We  override  the  will  of  the  negro  even  yet.  His  vote 


134  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

is  only  a  farce.  We  have  never  even  asked  our  women, 
half  our  whole  number,  whether  they  consent  to  our 
government  or  not.  All  of  this  is  petty  quibbling.  These 
exceptions  only  prove  the  rule.  The  principle  holds  in 
spite  of  temporary  failures  justified  by  local  conditions  or 
not  justified  at  all.  So  far  as  women  are  concerned  it 
is  still,  right  or  wrong,  the  theory  of  most  civilized  gov- 
ernments, ours  with  the  rest,  that  women  have  no  gov- 
ernmental interests  at  variance  with  those  of  men.  They 
consent  tacitly  but  constantly  to  be  represented  by  their 
fathers,  brothers,  or  husbands.  Doubtless  this  condition 
is  not  eternal,  but  it  exists  at  present,  and  no  one  can 
claim  that  "  consent  of  the  governed  "  is  reached  only 
by  a  formal  vote. 

As  to  this  Lincoln  once  said  : — "  The  f  ramers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  meant  to  set  up  a  standard 
maxim  for  free  society  which  should  be  familiar  to  all,  and 
revered  by  all,  constantly  looked  to,  constantly  labored  for, 
even,  though  never  perfectly  attained,  constantly  approxi- 
mated, and  thereby  constantly  deepening  its  influence,  and 
augmenting  the  happiness  and  value  of  life  to  all  peoples 
of  all  colors  everywhere."  One  year  later,  speaking  at 
Philadelphia,  he  said  that  he  would  "  rather  be  assassi- 
nated on  the  spot  than  to  act  in  the  view,  that  the  coun- 
try could  be  saved  by  giving  up  the  principles  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence." 

"  Our  own  country,"  says  Lowell,  in  the  name  of 
Homer  Wilbur,  "  is  bounded  on  the  north  and  the  south, 
on  the  east  and  the  west  by  justice,  and  where  she  over- 
steps these  invisible  bounds,  even  so  much  as  by  a  hair's 
breadth,  she  ceases  to  be  our  mother."  Inside  these 
boundaries  our  flag  is  the  banner  of  freedom ;  outside  it 


A  BLIND    MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  135 

is  the  standard  of  the  pirate.  Whether  on  a  stolen 
guano  Mexican  island  or  on  a  sugar  plantation  wrenched 
or  bought  from  Spain,  its  truest  friends  shall  be  the  first 
to  haul  it  down. 

Doubtless  the  imperialists  are  partly  in  the  right. 
It  is  certain  that  the  formation  of  a  colonial  bureau  and 
a  foreign  bureau  wholly  outside  of  popular  control  would 
make,  for  the  time  at  least,  for  better  government  and 
stronger  administration.  Doubtless  needs  like  those  of 
England  will  hasten  British  methods  of  meeting  them. 
But  government  for  the  people  and  not  of  them  has  its 
weakness  as  well  as  its  strength.  The  strength  of  de- 
mocracy lies  not  in  its  apparent  force.  It  lies  latent, 
to  be  drawn  on  in  times  of  great  need. 

Because  of  its  latent  power  our  great  blundering 
democracy,  slow  in  war  and  simple  or  clumsy  in  diplo- 
macy, is  strong  above  all  other  nations.  It  can  safely 
try  civic  experiments  the  very  thought  of  which,  if, 
taken  seriously,  would  throw  all  Europe  into  convulsions. 
The  imperial  government  is  a  swift  express  train  which 
will  run  with  great  speed  on  a  proper  track  but  which 
is  involved  in  utter  ruin  by  a  moment's  slip  of  misman- 
agement. The  republic  is  an  array  of  lumbering  farm 
wagons,  not  so  swift  nor  so  strong,  but  infinitely  more 
adaptable,  the  only  thing  you  can  use  on  a  farm. 

The  strength  of  democratic  institutions  is  that  without 
the  intelligent  consent  of  those  affected  by  them  they 
will  not  work  at  all.  All  permanent  government  rests  on 
acquiescence  of  the  people,  but  democracy  demands 
more.  It  insists  on  their  positive  action. 

The  strength  of  empire,  however  disguised,  lies  in 
brute  force  and  that  alone.  That  of  democracy  lies  in 

10 


136  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

the  self-control  and  the  self-respect  of  its  individual  citi- 
zens. The  work  of  Great  Britain  through  the  centuries 
has  been  to  teach  its  people  and  its  vassals  the  lesson  of 
respect  of  law.  It  has  been  the  mission  of  the  United 
States  to  teach  respect  of  manhood,  a  matter  vastly 
more  difficult  as  well  as  more  important. 

A  nation  self-governed  is  the  most  powerful  of  all 
nations,  because  she  is  at  peace  within  herself  and  being 
sound  at  heart  she  has  taken  the  first  step  toward  good 
government,  a  step  by  which  the  best  government  pos- 
sible to  men  must  be  reached  in  time.  Even  the 
blunders  and  corruptions  of  democracy  make  for  good 
government  at  last.  When  the  people  find  out  what  hurts 
them,  that  particular  wrong  must  cease.  Even  the 
spoils  system  with  all  its  waste  and  shame  has  its  educa- 
cative  value,  and  tremendous  will  be  the  educative  value 
of  the  process  by  which  it  is  at  last  thrown  off.  The  re- 
action from  the  conquest  of  Luzon  will  save  us  from  Im- 
perialism for  the  next  fifty  years. 

Democracy  is  always  wiser  than  it  seems.  The  com- 
mon politician  knows  the  weaknesses  of'  the  people  and 
tries  to  profit  by  them.  The  true  statesman  knows  the 
strength  of  the  people  and  tries  to  lead  it,  and  the  re- 
sults he  attains  are  the  marvel  of  the  world.  Such  a 
leader  of  the  people  was  Lincoln.  He  could  touch  the 
noblest  springs  in  our  national  character.  Such  leaders 
will  rise  when  occasion  shall  demand  them.  Mean- 
while, the  men  are  not  wanting.  Sound  common  sense 
and  devoted  patriotism  are  needed  in  all  walks  in 
life  and  are  found  there.  The  froth  on  the  waves 
may  fill  our  public  offices,  but  the  great  deep  is  below 
them. 


A  BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  137 

"  Are  all  the  common  ones  so  grand, 
And  all  the  titled  ones  so  mean  ? " 


was  asked  in  1 863  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  "  The  com- 
mon men  so  grand,"  though  all  the  titled  ones  be  mean,  is 
the  experience  of  all  democracy.  It  is  far  better  and  far 
safer  than  the  reverse  condition  when  only  titled  men 
are  great  and  all  the  common  men  are  mean.  Such 
nations  are  like  inverted  pyramids  resting  on  the  strength 
of  one  man. 

For  a  nation  to  be  ruled  by  leaders  may  be  considered 
as  a  survival  of  primitive  conditions,  when  there  was  no 
politics  save  war.  Then  all  men  were  warriors  and  the 
tribes  were  but  an  array  with  a  camp-following  of  women, 
children,  and  civilians. 

When  militarism  gives  away  to  industrialism  we  have 
the  rise  of  the  individual  man  at  the  expense  of 
the  relative  standing  of  his  leaders ;  for  leadership  is 
necessary  only  as  collective  danger  threatens.  The 
rulers  are  transformed  from  leaders  to  agents.  These 
are  at  first  under  democracy  responsible  to  self-consti- 
tuted managers,  demagogues,  and  bosses  who  usurp  con- 
trol when  no  imminence  of  danger  forces  the  necessity 
of  strong  leadership. 

From  this  transition  stage,  democracy  must  pass  on 
to  settled  institutions  and  good  service.  In  the  stage 
which  comes  next,  the  intelligent  citizen  shall  be  the 
unit  and  head  of  political  affairs  with  servants  elected, 
appointed,  or  chosen  by  competitive  examinations  to  do 
his  bidding  and  carry  out  his  will.  "  The  citizen  is  at 
the.  head,"  says  Walt  Whitman,  and  President,  Congress 
and  courts  "  are  but  his  servants  for  pay."  The  de- 


138  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

cay  of  leadership  must  accompany  the  rise  of  the  in- 
dividual man. 

Let  us  assume  by  way  of  illustration  a  few  impossible 
things.  Let  us  suppose  that  the  Emperor  of  Germany 
should  die  suddenly,  and  with  him  should  disappear  the 
whole  royal  family,  the  army,  the  judiciary,  and  all 
others  in  power  with  all  the  force  over  which  they  have 
control.  Who  can  say  what  would  happen  next?  Can 
we  even  guess  at  the  map  of  the  next  new  Germany? — 
for  the  German  Empire  has  no  strength  in  itself.  It  is 
strong  in  battle  because  it  owns  millions  of  fighting  men. 
It  has  little  strength  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  The 
failure  of  the  force  of  arms  even  for  a  day  might  mark 
the  end  of  the  German  Empire. 

On  even  frailer  basis  rests  the  Republic  of  France. 
Could  such  fortune  befall  her  as  the  loss  of  her 
army  and  all  others  in  power,  no  one  could  foretell  her 
protean  changes.  If,  perchance,  the  scepter  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  people,  the  new  Republic  of  France 
would  be  very  different  from  any  she  has  ever  yet  seen. 

If  in  Great  Britain  the  same  change  could  take  place 
what  should  we  see?  If  every  official  of  whatever 
grade,  all  the  army,  and  all  the  navy  were  swallowed  in 
the  sea,  can  we  forecast  the  result? 

Evidently  in  England  herself  no  great  change  would 
arise.  Respect  for  law  and  respect  for  tradition  are 
firmly  ingrained  in  the  English  character.  What  had 
been  would  be  established  again,  and  the  common- 
wealth of  England  would  lose  not  a  whit  of  its  power  or 
stability.  But  what  of  the  British  Empire?  Its 
scattered  fragments  could  never  be  collected  again.  Ire- 
land, held  by  force,  would  go  in  her  own  way,  and  the 


A  BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  139 

different  factions  would  again  repel  one  another.  Self- 
government  foi  Ireland  means  disunion  of  the  Empire, 
and  this  the  English  statesmen  know  too  well.  India  is 
no  nearer  England  to-day  than  she  was  a  hundred  years 
ago.  There  is  not  one  of  her  vassal  nations  which  would 
not  escape  if  it  could.  There  is  not  one  whose  presence 
does  not  weaken  the  British  Empire.  Shrewd  admin- 
istration has  learned  to  count  on  this  and  to  find  out 
compensating  advantages.  A  vast  business  on  a  small 
capital  is  the  type  of  British  dominion.  No  wonder 
England  cherishes  her  relation  to  Canada  and  Australia, 
elder  children  of  hers,  who  give  her  moral  help  but  who 
take  care  of  themselves.  England  dare  not  release  Ire- 
land from  federal  union,  because  only  as  a  helpless  mino- 
rity can  Ireland  be  controlled.  On  the  other  hand,  she 
dare  not  admit  the  rest  of  the  empire  to  the  same  feder- 
ation lest  she  be  thrown  into  the  minority  herself. 
Sooner  or  later  both  these  questions  will  become  burn- 
ing ones.  When  they  are  solved  Great  Britain  will  be 
no  longer  an  empire. 

"  Gladly,"  says  Dr.  Woolsey,  "  would  Great  Britain 
limit  her  responsibilities  if  she  could ;  but  it  would  be 
construed  as  a  sign  of  weakness,  and  she  fears  the  conse- 
quences. She  cannot  let  go."  "  Imperial  expansion," 
says  Frederick  Harrison,  speaking  of  conditions  in  Eng- 
land, "means  domestic  stagnation.  It  swallowed  the 
energies  of  Liberalism  and  bartered  progress  for  glory." 
The  fabric  of  Imperialism,  whatever  its  form,  is  built  in 
shifting  sands.  The  only  solid  foundation  for  any  gov- 
ernment is  "  the  consent  of  the  governed,"  and  here 
lies  the  strength  of  the  United  States,  the  soundest  gov- 
ernment on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Not  the  wisest,  not 


140  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

the  most  economical,  most  dignified,  or  most  just,  but 
the  firmest  in  its  basis,  and,  therefore,  the  most  endur- 
ing. 

At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  when  more  than  ever 
before  in  its  history  the  nation  was  dependent  on  a  single 
man,  and  he  the  wisest,  bravest,  tenderest  of  all,  Lincoln 
was  murdered.  The  land  was  filled  with  sorrow  and  dis- 
tress, but  there  was  no  alarm  in  our  body  politic.  It  was 
left  to  Lincoln,  says  Brownell, 

"  Even  in  death,  to  give 

This  token  for  freedom's  strife, 

A  proof  how  republics  live, 
Not  by  a  single  life, 

But  the  right  divine  of  man 

The  million  trained  to  be  free." 

Our  government  would  have  endured,  even  in  that 
troubled  time,  had  every  official  of  every  state  fallen  with 
Lincoln. 

Should  our  whole  body  of  officers,  our  army,  our  navy, 
perish  to-morrow,  all  would  go  on  as  before.  Some 
veteran  of  the  Civil  War,  or  some  schoolmaster,  perhaps, 
would  take  the  chair  and  call  the  people  to  order.  The 
machinery  of  democracy  would  be  started,  and,  once 
started,  would  proceed  in  its  usual  way.  We  should  not 
have  Cuba  nor  the  Philippines,  but  we  should  retain  all 
that  was  worth  keeping.  This  stability  of  administration 
would  not  arise  from  our  respect  for  law.  That  feeling 
is  none  too  strong  in  our  "  fierce  democracy."  Still 
less  would  it  spring  from  respect  for  tradition.  We  don't 
care  a  continental  for  tradition.  We  should  act  on  the 
common-sense  of  the  common  man.  To  cultivate  this 
common-sense  is  the  chief  mission  of  democracy.  In 


A   BLIND    MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  14! 

this  it  is  effective,  and  for  that  reason,  our  Republic  is 
the  strongest  and  soundest  government  under  heaven. 

"  I  have  yet  to  learn,"  *  says  John  Brown,  "  that  God  is 
a  respecter  of  persons."  There  is  "  God  in  our  Constitu- 
tion," not  in  name,  but  in  fact,  for  by  it  "  all  men  are 
equal  before  the  law,"  which  "  is  no  respecter  of  persons." 
Men  are  men,  whether  white  or  black  or  brown  or  yellow. 
The  British  government  rests  on  a  foundation  of  inequality. 
Its  rewards  are  titles  of  nobility,  which  imply  that  the 
plain  man  is  ignoble.  The  word  law  is  written  on  its 
every  page;  the  word  justice  occurs  only  as  between 
equals.  Neither  the  word  nor  the  idea  of  justice  as 
resting  on  human  equality  before  the  law  finds  place  in 
England's  dealing  with  other  nations. 

"How  long  will  the  United  States  endure ?"  Guizot 
once  asked  of  James  Russell  Lowell.  "  So  long  as  the 
ideas  of  its  founders  remain  dominant,"  was  his  answer. 
Just  so  long  as  her  government  rests  on  the  intelligent 
"  consent  of  the  governed."  When  it  rests  in  part  on 
force,  no  matter  how  wisely  applied,  in  so  far  will  it  be 
unstable.  A  standing  army  contains  the  seeds  of  decay. 
As  militarism  grows  democracy  must  die.  But  without 
the  constant  pressure  of  force  of  arms,  law  and  order  and 

*  "  I  think,  my  friends,  you  are  guilty  of  a  great  wrong  against 
God  and  humanity,  and  it  would  be  perfectly  right  for  any  one  to 
interfere  with  you  so  far  as  to  set  loose  those  you  wilfully  and 
wickedly  hold  in  bondage.  I  have  yet  to  learn  that  God  is  a 
respecter  of  persons. 

"  I  pity  the  poor  in  bondage  who  have  none  to  help  them  : 
that  is  why  I  am  here.  ...  It  is  my  sympathy  with  the  oppressed 
and  the  wronged  that  are  as  good  as  you  are  and  as  precious  in 
the  sight  of  God."  (John  Brown,  at  Harper's  Ferry :  speaking 
from  the  floor  of  the  Armory). 


142  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

industry  have  never  in  any  high  degree  existed  in  the 
tropics.  Mexico  to-day  is  a  land  of  law  and  order,  but 
the  soldier  is  everywhere.  Every  railway  train  in  the  Re- 
public carries  at  least  three  rurales,  or  national  guards- 
men. Every  flag  station  has  two  or  three,  and  every  con- 
siderable town  has  its  battalion  or  its  regiment.  These 
soldiers  are  drawn  from  the  body  of  the  people ;  very 
many  of  them  are  ex-brigands,  reformed  to  the  higher  use 
of  the  enforcement  of  law.  "  This  may  not  be  republi- 
canism, but  it  is  business."  The  conditions  of  law  and 
order  in  the  Philippines  are  just  the  same.  You  may 
use  native  soldiers  if  you  like,  but  without  force  order 
cannot  exist. 

The  cost  of  this  whole  business  may  be  urged  as  an 
argument  against  annexation.  It  will  appeal  to  our  peo- 
ple as  the  discussion  of  the  bill  for  the  enlargement  of 
the  army  plainly  shows.  The  financial  statements  of 
Congress  have  proved  the  strongest  arguments  against 
persistency  in  folly.  It  is  clearly  evident  that  the  cost 
of  conquest  or  even  military  occupation  of  the  Philip- 
pines is  far  in  excess  of  any  possible  gain  to  the  govern- 
ment. The  whole  trade  of  the  islands  for  five  years,  if  we 
get  all  of  it,  would  not  pay  for  a  second-class  battle-ship. 
People  who  live  in  straw  houses*^ do  not  make  inter- 
national trade.  We  may  open  the  way  for  individuals 
and  corporations  to  grow  rich,  but  the  people  can  never 
get  their  money  back. 

No  possible  development  of  the  islands  can  profit  the 
people  at  large.  There  are  no  openings  in  the  tropics 
for  the  small  farmer,  none  for  the  American  laborer,  and 
in  general  none  for  any  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
American  people ;  nor  can  any  be  made  by  any  act  of 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  143 

ours.  We  cannot  alter  the  conditions  of  life  in  the  Orient. 
The  question  of  flag,  other  things  being  equal,  affects 
neither  commerce  nor  industry.  Trade  never  "  follows 
the  flag  "  because  it  is  a  flag.  Trade  "  flies  through  the 
open  door  "  because  it  is  a  door.  Men  buy  or  sell  wher- 
ever they  can  make  money. 

The  whole  argument  that  the  needs  of  our  commerce 
demand  the  occupation  of  the  Philippine  archipelago  is 
both  fallacious  and  immoral.  It  is  untrue  in  the  first 
place,  and  unworthy  in  the  second.  The  needs  of 
commerce  demand  no  act  of  injustice  and  they  excuse 
none.  The  total  cost  of  maintenance  of  our  proposed 
government  in  the  Philippines  cannot  fall  short  of 
$10,000,000  per  year,  and  may  be  far  greater.  Our 
actual  trade  with  the  islands  now  amounts  to  less  than 
$500,000  per  year,  imports  and  exports  together,  and 
the  whole  trade  of  the  Philippines  with  all  the  world  is 
less  than  $30,000,000.  No  form  of  government  could 
increase  this  much,  and,  under  republican  forms  it  might 
fall  off.  The  less  compulsion,  the  less  labor.  Allowing 
a  net  profit  of  ten  per  cent  on  all  transactions,  a  com- 
plete monopoly  of  Philippine  trade  would  leave  the 
people  a  debt  of  seven  millions  for  every  three  millions 
our  trading  companies  might  gain.  In  time,  perhaps,  the 
outlook  would  be  less  unequal.  Trade  might  increase, 
expenses  grow  less,  but  in  no  conceivable  event  would 
the  people  get  their  money  back.  The  returns  either 
in  money  or  civilization  would  always  be  below  their  cost. 
The  argument  for  commercial  expansion  has  its  roots  in 
our  experience  of  booming  towns  and  has  no  value  with 
careful  financiers.  The  whole  trade  of  all  the  tropics 
will,  at  the  best,  be  but  a  trifling  part  of  the  commerce 


144  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

of  the  world.  Certain  drugs,  dyes,  and  fruits,  mainly 
natural  products,  with  sugar,  tobacco,  coffee,  and  tea 
make  almost  the  whole  of  it. 

Yet  it  is  true  that  commercial  imperialism  might  pay 
if  we  were  free  to  act  as  England  would  with  her  wisdom, 
her  experience,  and  her  selfishness ;  but  only  on  a  vast 
and  generous  scale,  considering  commercial  results  only, 
could  we  make  her  policy  effective.  The  function  of  the 
British  army  and  navy  in  these  days  is  not  glory  nor 
dominion.  It  is  to  clear  away  the  barriers  to  trade. 
When  England  subjugates  a  nation  she  lets  it  alone  as 
much  as  she  can.  Interference  means  waste  of  men 
and  money.  She  never  meddles  with  the  religion  nor 
the  form  of  government  of  her  vassals.  The  people 
may  choose  king,  or  president,  or  sultan,  and  each  may 
conduct  his  own  court  in  his  own  way,  with  all  the  gold- 
lace  and  peacock-feathers  that  his  barbaric  taste  may 
demand.  England  does  not  care  for  this.  On  her  coat- 
of-arms  are  these  three  words  only,  VOLUME  OF 
TRADE. 

All  that  England  now  asks  of  the  nations  she  calls 
colonies  is  this,  and  this  she  gets,  that  there  shall  be 
law  and  order,  and  all  doors  wide  open  to  the  commerce 
of  all  the  world.  So  long  as  other  nations  keep  closed 
doors  at  home,  England  can  undersell  them  in  the 
markets  of  the  world.  Imperialism,  then,  as  Lord  Beres- 
ford  truthfully  insists,  means  with  England  simply  this, 
Volume  of  Trade.  All  the  rest  is  mere  flummery.  The 
sole  purpose  of  the  British  navy,  accident  aside,  is  to* 
hold  the  doors  of  the  world  open  to  British  merchant 
ships.  Except  as  an  adjunct  to  an  open  door  of  com- 
merce all  foreign  possessions  are  costly  and  ruinous  folly. 


A  BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  145 

The  maintenance  of  Algiers,  Madagascar  and  the  Indo- 
China  as  tariff-bound  colonies  for  Frenchmen  to  exploit 
has  wrought  the  financial  ruin  of  France.  The  militarism 
these  follies  made  necessary  has  wrought  her  civic  ruin. 
But  with  Great  Britain  army  and  navy  are  but  adjuncts 
used  with  marvelous  skill  toward  one  great  purpose, 
Volume  of  Trade. 

The  United  States  cannot  be  thus  turned  into  a  vast 
machine  for  helping  its  manufacturers  and  merchants. 
She  has  many  other  interests,  and  the  greatest  are  educa- 
tional and  moral.  To  drop  all  these  and  plunge  into  the 
promotion  of  commerce  she  must  cast  aside  all  the  checks 
and  balances  of  her  Constitution  and  to  stand  unham- 
pered, just  as  England  stands. 

The  British  Government  acts  on  the  instant.  Its  only 
limitation  is  the  confidence  of  the  people.  So  long  as 
it  holds  this  by  success  there  is  no  restraint  on  its 
achievements.  One  doubt  or  failure  throws  the  power 
into  the  hands  of  the  opposing  party.  This  forces  to  the 
front  the  cleverest  and  strongest  men  in  all  England. 
It  forbids  incompetence  in  every  branch  of  government. 

Our  government  is  not  an  organism  which  can  think 
and  act  as  a  unit.  It  is  simply  the  reflex  of  the  people 
themselves ;  the  mirror  of  the  mass,  with  all  its  crudities 
and  inconsistencies.  It  exists  for  the  purpose  of  exalt- 
ing men,  not  for  developing  industry  or  swelling  the 
volume  of  trade.  The  British  flag  extends  the  trade  of 
England  because  it  insures  local  peace  and  clears  away 
the  rubbish  of  tariff  which  obstructs  traffic.  The  Dutch 
flag  helps  the  trade  of  Holland  because  it  means 
enforced  industrialism,  slavery  that  pays  its  way.  The 
American  flag,  outside  of  America,  as  yet  means  nothing  ; 


146  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

neither  greater  industry  nor  freer  commerce,  nor  yet  in- 
creased observance  of  law.  To  plant  it  anywhere  can- 
not help  our  trade. 

If  we  were  to  follow  in  England's  footsteps,  let  us  see 
what  we  should  have  done.  Let  us  begin  with  the  war 
for  Cuban  freedom,  though  with  England  in  our  place 
there  would  have  been  no  war.  She  would  have  found  a 
way  of  saving  Cuba  for  herself  without  humiliating 
Spain. 

But  the  war  once  begun  would  have  been  pushed  on 
business  principles.  Our  navy  shows  the  British  method. 
Our  army  suggests  the  methods  of  Spain.  Great  Britain 
would  have  no  scandal  in  her  army  because  she  would 
have  no  politicians  there.  There  would  have  been  no 
officials  not  trained  to  the  profession ;  no  colonels  who 
had  not  earned  their  promotion  by  success.  Severe 
training  and  faithful  service  give  military  precedence  in 
England.  Political  services  or  favor  of  the  Minister 
do  not  count.  Faithful  men  find  their  reward  in 
titles  of  nobility.  In  England,  political  scheming  in  army 
or  navy  or  civil  service  alike  stands  on  the  plane  of 
forgery  or  counterfeiting.  The  nation  could  not  endure 
it  and  live. 

The  war  once  finished,  peace  would  be  made  with  the 
blade  of  the  sword.  No  civil  commission  would  be  sent 
to  wrangle  over  the  details.  They  would  be  settled  on 
the  instant.  Spain  would  be  given  a  day  to  relinquish 
whatever  England  wanted,  and  England  would  speak  her 
wishes  in  no  uncertain  tones.  What  England  would  do 
with  these  possessions  is  evident  enough.  She  would  put 
down  rioting  and  brigandage,  and  she  would  employ  the 
native  soldiery  to  do  it.  She  would  press  the  strongest 


A  BLIND    MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  147 

leaders  into  her  service,  humoring  their  vanity  with  titles 
and  making  her  interests  their  own.  She  would  let  the 
people  form  whatever  government  their  fancy  chose, 
with  only  this  limitation,  all  factions  must  keep  the  peace. 
To  show  what  peace  means  she  might  knock  down  a 
fortress  or  two,  or  blow  a  few  hundred  rebels  from  her 
guns  for  an  object  lesson  to  the  rest. 

All  this  in  England's  case  would  have  taken  place  long 
ago  with  the  sinking  of  the  navies  of  her  foes,  and  once 
accomplished  the  door  of  commerce  would  be  flung  open 
to  all  the  world.  All  this  has  its  glories,  it  may  be  its 
advantages,  and  we  have  men  enough  who,  with  force  in 
hand,  could  carry  out  its  every  detail.  But  it  could  not 
be  done  under  our  Constitution,  nor  under  our  relation 
of  parties,  nor  under  the  administration  now  at  the  head 
of  our  affairs.  To  pause  in  its  accomplishment  would  be 
fatal.  To  hesitate  is  to  fail,  and  our  opportunity,  such 
as  it  was,  as  well  as  our  imperial  prestige,  was  lost  when 
we  made  the  leaders  of  the  Filipinos  our  enemies. 

"If  ever,"  says  Dr. William  James,  "there  was  a 
situation  to  be  handled  psychologically,  it  was  this 
one.  The  first  thing  that  any  European  government 
would  have  done  would  have  been  to  approach  it  from 
the  psychological  side :  Ascertain  the  sentiments  of 
the  natives  and  the  ideals  they  might  be  led  by,  get 
into  touch  immediately  with  Aguinaldo,  contract  some 
partnership,  buy  his  help  by  giving  ours,  etc.  Had  our 
officers  on  the  ground  been  allowed  to  follow  their  own 
common  sense  and  good  feeling,  they  would  probably 
have  done  just  this.  Meanwhile,  as  they  were  forbidden 
by  orders  from  Washington  no  one  knows  what  they  would 
have  done. 


148  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

"  But  it  is  obvious  that  for  our  rulers  at  Washington 
the  Filipinos  have  not  existed  as  psychological  quantities 
at  all,  except  so  far  as  they  might  be  moved  by  President 
McKinley's  proclamation.  *  *  *  When  General  Miller 
cables  that  they  won't  let  him  land  at  Iloilo,  the  Presi- 
dent, we  are  told,  cables  back  :  '  Cannot  my  proclama- 
tion be  distributed?  '  But  apart  from  this  fine  piece  of 
sympathetic  insight  into  foreigners'  minds  there  is  no 
clear  sign  of  its  ever  having  occurred  to  anyone  at 
Washington  that  the  Filipinos  could  have  any  feelings  or 
insides  of  their  own  whatever,  that  might  possibly  need 
to  be  considered  in  our  arrangements.  It  was  merely  a 
big  material  corporation  against  a  small  one,  the  '  soul f 
of  the  big  one  consisting  in  a  stock  of  moral  phrases,  the 
little  one  owning  no  soul  at  all. 

"  In  short  we  have  treated  the  Filipinos  as  if  they  were 
a  painted  picture,  an  amount  of  mere  matter  in  our 
way.  They  are  too  remote  from  us  ever  to  be  realized 
as  they  exist  in  their  inwardness.  They  are  too  far 
away ;  and  they  will  remain  too  far  away  to  the  end  of 
the  chapter.  If  the  first  step  is  such  a  criminal  blunder, 
what  shall  we  expect  of  trie  last?  " 

In  grim  and  graphic  fashion  the  clear-sighted  editor 
of  the  San  Francisco  Argonaut  sets  forth  the  lines  on 
which  we  may  succeed  in  our  schemes  of  conquest. 

"  If  we  persevere  in  our  imperialistic  plans,  we  shall  have  to 
rely  upon  native  troops,  for  the  reason  that  we  cannot  get  Amer- 
icans. It  is  becoming  more  and  more  apparent  that  the  youth 
of  America  will  not  volunteer  for  regular  service  in  the  tropics. 
We  shall  have  to  adopt  the  same  methods  pursued  by  European 
colonial  powers,  if  we  continue  in  our  imperialistic  groove.  We 
shall  have  to  lay  aside  a  great  many  scruples  to  which  we  now 
cling. 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  149 

"  For  example,  in  the  Philippines  we  may  have  to  adopt  Span- 
ish methods  in  many  ways.  We  may  find  it  necessary  to  stir  up 
one  tribe  of  natives  against  another.  Thus  we  could  arm  the 
Visayans,  drill  them,  and  ship  them  to  Luzon.  The  Visayans 
hate  the  Tagalos,  and  we  could  set  the  two  tribes  to  fighting  to- 
gether, and  with  the  Visayans  we  might  exterminate  the  Tagalos. 
Then,  after  the  Tagalos  were  exterminated  or  subjected,  we 
could  stir  up  the  fierce  Moros  of  Mindanao  against  the  Visayans. 
By  judiciously  fomenting  strife  we  could  exterminate  the  Visay- 
ans. There  would  then  remain  only  the  Moros,  and  probably 
we  could  get  away  with  them  ourselves. 

"  Here  is  another  suggestion.  The  Spaniards  have  always 
found  it  necessary  to  use  treachery,  torture,  and  bribery  in  the 
Philippines.  We  shall  probably  have  to  do  the  same.  The 
Anglo-Saxon  methods  of  warfare  do  not  appeal  to  the  Malay.  In 
pursuance  of  our  imperialistic  plans,  it  would  be  well  to  hire 
some  of  the  insurgent  lieutenants  to  betray  Aguinaldo  and  other 
chieftains  into  our  clutches.  A  little  bribery,  a  little  treachery, 
and  a  little  ambuscading,  and  we  could  trap  Aguinaldo  and  his 
chieftains.  Then,  instead  of  putting  them  to  death  in  the  ordi- 
nary way,  it  might  be  well  to  torture  them.  The  Spaniards  have 
left  behind  them  some  means  to  that  end  in  the  dungeons  in 
Manila.  The  rack,  the  thumbscrew,  the  trial  by  fire,  the  trial  by 
molten  lead,  boiling  insurgents  alive,  crushing  their  bones  in  in- 
genious mechanisms  of  torture — these  are  some  of  the  methods 
that  would  impress  the  Malay  mind.  It  would  show  them  that 
we  are  in  earnest.  Ordinary,  decent,  Christian,  and  civilized 
methods,  such  as  the  United  States  have  always  pursued  in  war- 
fare, will  only  lead  them  to  believe  that  we  are  weaklings  and 
cowards,  and  that  we  are  therefore  to  be  steadily  and  sturdily 
combated. 

"This  may  seem  to  some  of  the  more  sentimental  of  our 
readers  like  grim  jesting.  It  is  not.  It  is  grim  earnest.  We 
assure  them  that  the  Malay  race  can  be  ruled  only  by  terror. 
The  Dutch  can  tell  us  a  little  about  that  from  their  experiences 
in  Java.  If  there  be  a  belief  throughout  the  United  States  that 
these  mediaeval  methods  are  unfitted  for  us,  than  we  shall  have 
to  retire  from  attempting  to  manage  Malays.  Malays  are  more 
than  mediaeval.  They  hark  back  to  the  old,  cruel  days  of  prime- 


150  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

val  man.  They  are  primeval  rather  than  mediaeval,  and  if  we 
want  to  manage  Malays,  we  will  have  to  do  it  in  such  ways  that 
mere  murder  would  be  kindness." 

Others  say  that  China  is  soon  to  be  looted  by  the  powers 
of  Europe.  We  wish  to  be  on  hand  in  the  center  of  the 
fight  to  get  a  share  of  her  land  and  trade.  "  I  held  the 
enemy  down,"  said  brave  John  Phoanix  at  San  Diego, 
"  with  my  nose,  which  I  inserted  between  his  teeth  for 
that  purpose."  The  vultures  are  already  at  the  huge 
Mongolian  carcass.  Let  the  Eagle  of  Freedom  join  his 
fellow  buzzards  till  his  belly  is  full.  Too  proud  to  attack 
for  ourselves,  we  will  be  close  at  hand  to  seize  whatever 
the  others  may  drop  in  the  scramble.  Why  not?  If  we 
do  not  enter  the  struggle,  they  "  will  forever  shut  us  out 
of  the  trade  of  China."  But  is  this  true  ?  Trade 
demands  customers,  and  China  will  never  have  a  better 
customer  than  the  United  States.  To  shut  out  anybody 
shuts  out  trade,  and  the  wrangling  powers  will  tyd  for 
our  markets,  even  if  we  leave  to  them  the  cost,  the  waste 
and  the  shame  of  the  spoliation  of  China.  To  secure 
our  share  of  the  China  trade  we  have  only  to  be  ready 
with  something  to  exchange  and  ships  to  carry  it.  No 
nation  can  afford  to  subjugate  China  or  to  hold  any  large 
part  of  it  under  military  force.  The  sphere  of  influence 
is  the  open  door.  We  have  only  to  meet  the  open  door 
with  open  door.  To  hold  the  Philippines  will  not  make 
our  commerce.  Annex  them  and  we  shall  be  just  as  far 
from  the  goal  as  before.  Bind  them  with  our  tariffs 
and  we  shall  leave  them  practically  no  commerce  at  all. 
In  any  case,  beyond  the  conveniences  of  a  coaling 
station  they  do  not  enter  into  the  Chinese  question  to 
any  visible  degree. 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  151 

The  argument  that  annexation  is  a  violation  of  our 
Constitution  does  not  impress  me  as  conclusive.  The 
Constitution  is  an  agreement  to  secure  justice  and 
prudence  in  our  internal  affairs.  Its  validity  is  between 
state  and  state,  and  between  man  and  man.  The  hope 
of  this  country  lies  in  the  intelligence,  morality  and 
virility  of  its  people,  not  in  the  wisdom  of  its  leaders, 
still  less  in  the  perfections  of  its  Constitution.  Consti- 
tutions are  mere  paper  at  best,  unless  they  rest  on  the 
consent  of  the  governed ;  unless  the  principles  they  rep- 
resent are  ingrained  deep  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
If  the  United  States  is  a  nation,  she  holds  all  national 
prerogatives.  As  a  nation  she  may  do  whatever  she 
chooses,  if  no  other  power  prevents.  The  Constitution 
cannot  test  the  wisdom  of  an  action.  She  may  annex 
barbarous  countries,  make  war  on  the  universe,  or  do 
any  other  wicked  or  foolish  thing,  if  the  decision  to  do 
so  keeps  within  proper  forms  of  law.  If,  however,  the 
Constitution  offers  an  effective  barrier  against  folly  we 
shall  soon  find  it  out.  We  may  be  sure  that  no  weapon 
against  Imperialism  will  be  left  unused.  Whether  the 
letter  of  the  Constitution  forbids  the  acquisition  of  vassal 
provinces  and  rotten  boroughs  is  an  open  question. 
But  there  is  no  question  that  the  spirit  is  opposed  to 
both.  Had  such  conditions  been  foreseen,  the  annex- 
ation of  either  would  doubtless  have  been  formally  for- 
bidden. 

I  do  not  myself  believe  that  the  annexation  of  the 
Philippines  will  prove  fatal  to  our  Constitution  or  fatal  to 
democracy.  It  will  be  endlessly  mischievous,  but  it  will 
not  kill.  The  only  poison  that  can  kill  is  personal  corrup- 
tion, the  moral  rottenness  of  our  people.  The  govern- 


152  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

ment  by  the  people  has  wondrous  vitality,  and  it  has  al- 
ready survived  gigantic  crimes.  It  has  outlived  the 
monstrous  blunder  of  secession  and  the  headless  spasms 
of  "organized  labor."  It  will  outlive  the  aftermath  of 
this  war  with  Spain.  "  You  cannot  fool  all  the  people 
all  the  time."  This  epigram  of  Lincoln's  expresses  the 
final  strength  of  democracy.  When  the  craze  of  the  day 
has  subsided,  and  we  have  counted  our  loss  in  blood  and 
treasure,  we  shall  "  walk  backward  with  averted  gaze  to 
hide  our  shame."  May  this  shame  be  enduring,  for  it  is 
our  guarantee  that  we  shall  not  do  the  like  again. 

Of  late  the  argument  of  annexation  assumes  a  differ- 
ent form.  It  is  justified  because  it  is  inevitable.  Let  us 
enter  the  movement  to  rule  it.  Some  of  our  ablest 
students  of  political  affairs  argue  in  this  fashion.  The 
treaty  with  Spain  is  sure  to  be  ratified.  The  Philippines 
will  be  ceded  to  the  United  States.  Cession  compels 
annexation.  We  are  in  the  current — not  of  divine  Prov- 
idence nor  of  abstract  destiny,  but  of  inevitable  public 
opinion.  It  is  no  more  use  to  struggle  against  this  than 
against  winds  and  tides.  "  The  King  can  do  no  wrong." 
All  the  prestige  of  power  is  with  the  administration. 
The  American  people  are  bent  upon  keeping  all  the  ter- 
ritory won  from  Spain.  It  is  all  a  great  joke  with  them, 
and  they  will  never  stop  to  look  at  the  thing  seriously. 
The  one-sided,  freakish  and  chivalrous  war  has  intensified 
the  humor  of  the  situation.  As  well  argue  against  a 
cyclone  as  against  a  national  movement.  The  American 
people  are  fearless  and  determined.  They  go  ahead  to 
the  aim  in  view,  and  can  take  no  backward  step.  They 
have  solved  many  difficulties  in  the  past  by  sheer  head- 
long obstinacy.  They  will  solve  these  difficulties  in  the 


A  BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  153 

same  fashion.  Let  us  Join  the  procession.  Let  us  not 
cheapen  our  influence  by  mugwumpery,  but  accept  the 
inevitable,  step  to  the  front  as  leaders  and  handle  the 
movement  as  best  we  can.  Especially,  they  tell  us,  we 
must  seize  the  occasion  to  emphasize  the  value  of  wise 
methods,  and,  above  all,  the  vital  needs  of  thorough 
civil  service  reform. 

But  civil  service  reform  is  the  special  abhorrence  of 
most  of  the  leaders  in  the  movement  for  annexation. 
The  petty  offices  the  Philippines  promise  are  the  basis 
of  half  their  influence.  The  promises  of  the  men  in 
power  lavishly  scattered  before  nomination  as  before  elec- 
tion are  still  far  in  excess  of  their  fulfilment.  Because 
of  these  outstanding  promises  our  volunteer  army  has 
been  cheapened  and  disgraced.  Is  there  any  promise  of 
better  things  when  civil  rule  in  the  islands  shall  succeed 
martial  law  and  the  natives  are  turned  over  to  "  amateur 
experimenters  in  colonial  administration?  " 

As  a  matter  of  fact  we  know  that  the  pressure  of  the 
spoilsman  has  been  and  is  greater  than  most  presidents 
can  resist.  The  appointment  of  civil  officials  in  the 
Philippines  means  the  carnival  of  the  spoilsmen.  The 
United  States  must  prepare  itself  for  scandal  and  corrup- 
tion in  greater  measure  than  it  has  ever  yet  known.  Al- 
ready such  scandals  are  ripening  at  Manila,  if  we  may 
trust  the  guarded  language  of  our  volunteer  soldiers. 
The  universities  of  California  have  more  than  one 
hundred  men  in  the  ranks  at  Manila  to-day,  men  of 
culture  and  education,  volunteers  who  rushed  forward 
at  the  call  of  their  country.  Over  these  men  are  some 
officers  brave  and  manly,  a  few  of  them  even  trained 
for  their  business.  But  the  officers  placed  in  authority 


154  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

over  our  patriotic  soldiers  are  not  always  gentlemen.  Too 
many  of  them  are  men  to  whom  in  civil  life  these  same 
volunteers  would  not  entrust  their  dogs.  Had  our 
volunteers  been  sent  to  Cuba  or  Manila  with  only 
corporals  chosen  by  themselves  and  not  an  officer  of 
staff  or  line,  brave  as  most  of  the  latter  were,  they 
would  have  made  as  good  a  record  as  is  shown  to-day. 
Officers  competent  to  lead,  willing  to  share  privations, 
could  accomplish  anything  with  these  soldiers.  The 
tinsel  sons  of  politicians  were  an  insult  to  patriotism. 
The  feeling  of  the  volunteer  army  to-day  is  that  of  men 
insulted  on  every  side.  Compare  this  with  the  feelings 
of  the  men  who  came  home  from  Appomattox  in  1865  ; 
and  the  difference  is  not  in  the  soldiers ;  it  is  the  work 
of  the  spoilsman. 

The  American  soldier  will  gladly  suffer  every  hardship 
necessary  in  the  work  on  which  his  country  sends  him. 
Under  real  officers,  men  whose  special  training  makes 
their  orders  effective,  men  who  are  not  afraid  to  live  or 
die  in  his  company,  he  will  face  every  danger.  But  he 
will  not  willingly  endure  imposed  hardships  which  serve 
no  purpose  and  which  he  thinks  due  to  carelessness  or 
greed,  nor  serve  under  pasteboard  officers  who  riot  in 
luxury  while  he  rots  in  the  swamps. 

Very  soon  the  preacher,  the  economist,  and  the  poli- 
tician who  now  work  together  for  expansion  shall  part 
company.  *  The  politician  does  not  enter  the  Philip- 
./  pines  to  convert  the  heathen — unless,  indeed,  he  can, 
[I  convert  them  into  coin.  (  He  is  there  for  the  same  rea- 
son that  the  Spaniards  were,  what  he  can  make  out  of 
it.  He  has  shown  no  signs  of  repentance  in  the  matter 
of  spoils.  He  has  not  joined  the  economist  in  devising 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  155 

schemes  for  a  purified  automatic  colonial  civil  service. 
When  he  is  mustered  out  from  one  place  he  must  be 
cared  for  somewhere  else. 

Let  me  give  an  illustration  or  two  from  past  experi- 
ence. Some  ten  or  twelve  years  ago  Congress  made  an 
effort  to  protect  the  buffalo  herd  in  the  Yellowstone 
Park.  To  this  end  provision  was  made  for  a  certain 
number  of  experts  to  act  as  keepers  of  the  Park.  Pro- 
fessor Baird,  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  wished  to 
have  these  keepers  drawn  from  the  ranks  of  trained  nat- 
uralists, that  the  Park  might  be  investigated  while  the  an- 
imals were  cared  for.  He  asked  me  to  nominate  one  of 
these  and  my  choice  fell  on  a  young  man,  a  person  of 
eminent  fitness,  a  doctor  of  philosophy  in  Zoology  and  a 
man  of  physical  strength  and  woodcraft.  He  is  now  cu- 
rator in  the  Field  Columbian  Museum  at  Chicago.  When 
the  Congressman  from  his  district  in  Indiana  learned  of 
this  choice  he  demanded  the  right  to  make  it  himself. 
This  the  appointing  power  dared  not  refuse,  and  the  Con- 
gressman proceeded  to  redeem  his  outstanding  promise. 
He  first  chose  a  man  whom  I  will  call  C.  He  could  not 
accept  as  he  was  serving  a  sentence  in  the  Monroe 
County  jail  for  larceny.  His  second  choice,  H.,  received 
the  notice  of  his  appointment  while  under  arrest  for  rid- 
ing a  mule  into  a  Martinsville  saloon  on  Sunday  morning. 
The  mule  was  sober  and  would  not  go  in.  H.  died 
of  alcoholism  at  Mammoth  Hot  Springs,  and  the  buffaloes 
were  slaughtered  in  the  Absarokie  Hills  unprotected 
and  unavenged. 

In  1890  the  Census  Bureau  asked  me  to  send  them 
an  expert  in  fishery  matters,  at  a  low  salary,  below  that 
offered  in  the  classified  service.  I  suggested  the  name 


156  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

of  a  young  man  from  Kansas.  At  once  the  representa- 
tive from  Topeka  claimed  the  appointment.  He  had 
promised  the  first  plum  that  fell  to  his  district  to  Major 
Somebody,  and  the  Major  must  have  it.  So  the  Census 
Bureau  was  obliged  to  find  in  the  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment a  position  at  the  same  salary  for  the  Major.  This 
the  Major  declined  in  indignant  disgust. 

Meanwhile  the  census  of  the  marine  industries  went 
on  in  the  hands  of  men  grotesquely  incompetent.  They 
were  set  to  doing  things  that  could  not  be  done.  They 
copied  their  figures  from  the  magnificent  census  report 
of  1880.  They  made  statistics  at  random,  which  were 
changed  in  the  Bureau  itself  to  tally  with  the  records  of 
1880.  The  expert  wrote  me:  "However  little  confi- 
dence the  outside  public  has  in  our  census  figures,  it  is 
vastly  greater  than  the  confidence  of  anyone  inside  the 
Bureau."  Finally  he  resigned  in  disgust.  The  resigna- 
tion was  not  accepted.  Then  he  brought  charges  of  in- 
competence and  falsification  against  the  chief  of  the 
division  and  all  his  clerks  and  enumerators  save  one  or 
two.  On  investigation  all  were  dismissed  and  the  expert 
was  directed  to  compile  the  census  of  the  fisheries  for 
1890  from  the  report  of  the  Fish  Commission  for  1888. 
The  sound  and  thorough  work  of  Willcox  and  Alexander 
was  thus  utilized,  but  the  whole  manuscript  of  the  Cen- 
sus Bureau  on  the  same  subject  costing  several  thousands 
of  dollars  went  into  the  waste  basket.  The  courage  of 
one  clerk  saved  us  from  trusting  for  our  information  to  a 
lot  of  "amateur  experimenters"  in  statistics. 

The  appointment  of  drunken  idlers  to  positions  of 
trust  was  an  every-day  affair  in  all  departments  not 
many  years  ago.  The  civil  service  regulations  have 


A   BLIND    MAN'S   HOLIDAY. 

saved  the  minor  positions,  but  at  the  same  time  they 
have  intensified  the  pressure  on  those  above  the  classi- 
fied list.  It  is  a  maxim  of  our  politics  that  anybody  will 
do  for  positions  outside  the  country  or  where  newspa- 
pers do  not  send  their  reporters.  All  of  last  year 
the  parlors  of  the  White  House  were  crowded  daily  with 
friends  of  politicians,  and  the  Senators  forced  to  stand 
as  their  unwilling  sponsors.  Every  one  familiar  with 
the  facts  knows  that  the  day  of  appointments  for  merit 
only  has  not  yet  come  to  Washington.  I  have  pur- 
posely chosen  two  cases  from  another  administration. 
I  can  parallel  both  of  these  from  the  present  one.  I 
see  in  Mexico  the  President  and  his  advisers  using  every 
effort  to  select  a  wise  and  effective  successor  to  Matias 
Romero,  their  late  accomplished  and  manly  ambassador 
at  Washington.  They  have  found,  at  last,  a  man 
worthy  of  their  country  and  ours.  When  we  have  chosen 
Ministers  to  Mexico,  with  one  exception,  Pacheco  (him- 
self a  Spanish-Californian),  not  one  of  them  has  under- 
stood the  language  of  the  country  to  which  he  was 
sent.  Fitness  does  not  interest  our  politicians.  The 
President  at  the  best  is  almost  helpless  in  the  hands  of 
the  Congressional  influence.  The  administration  has 
rarely  tried  to  rise  above  it.  In  the  international  com- 
missions, belated  as  most  of  them  have  been,  we  yet  see 
an  effort  to  secure  the  best  service  possible.  This  fact 
we  must  recognize,  and  I  do  so  with  real  satisfaction. 

We  may  counsel  together,  economists  and  preachers ; 
we  may  discuss  in  conventions  the  wise  management  of 
alien  colonies ;  we  may  pass  our  virtuous  resolutions ; 
we  may  analyze  the  successes  of  the  Dutch  and  the 
failures  of  the  French,  but  our  masters  care  not  for  our  dis- 


I$8  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

cussions  and  our  resolutions.  Even  now  the  rough  riders 
of  our  politics  do  not  conceal  their  contempt  of  the  whole 
business  of  good  government.  They  are  not  in  the 
Philippines  "  for  their  health,"  and  our  mugwump  remon- 
strances are  but  as  the  idle  wind  which  they  regard  not. 

Still  the  deed  is  not  accomplished.  I  have  tried 
to  keep  up  with  the  progress  of  events,  but  I  have  never 
heard  that  we  have  constitutionally  annexed  any  territo- 
ries since  we  absorbed  the  little  nation  of  Hawaii. 

But  if  annexation  is  our  final  decision,  the  nation  must 
begin  at  once  its  life  and  death  grapple  with  spoilsmen 
in  high  places  as  well  as  in  low. 

We  are  told  that  the  Philippine  question  is  bringing 
our  best  men  forward,  and  that  it  therefore  furnishes  a 
needed  "  stimulus  to  higher  politics."  But  the  higher 
politics  has  not  yet  been  shown  in  our  official  action. 
It  appears  only  in  the  earnest  protest  of  all  classes  of 
men  who  look  forward  to  the  inevitable  disaster.  Their 
warning  voices  are  outside  of  politics. 

Admitting,  however,  that  somewhere  or  other  a  reason 
exists  for  taking  the  Philippines ;  admitting  that  we 
have  conquered  Aguinaldo  somehow  by  gold  or  by  sword, 
what  shall  we  do  with  them  ? 

Shall  we  hold  them  as  vassal  nations,  subject  to  the 
sovereign  will  of  Congress  ?  Shall  we  make  them  territo- 
ries, self-governing  so  far  as  may  be  under  republican 
forms?  Shall  we  devise  tariffs  and  other  statutes  in 
their  interest  alone  or  shall  we  extend  to  them  unchanged 
our  protective  tariff,  our  navigation  laws,  and  our  Chinese 
Exclusion  Act,  just  as  they  stand,  without  modification? 
At  this  point  the  annexationists  fall  apart  one  from  an- 
other. To  hold  the  Philippines  as  a  vassal  nation  is 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  159 

Imperialism.  It  is  the  method  of  Great  Britain  and  of 
Holland.  Its  justification  is  its  success.  It  teaches 
respect  for  law,  which  is  the  first  essential  in  industrial 
development.  It  holds  the  open  door,  which  is  the  first 
essential  to  commerce. 

In  promoting  industrial  progress  in  the  tropics  we 
have  two  successful  methods  on  record,  through  enforced 
labor  and  through  contract  labor.  Neither  of  these  is 
slavery,  as  Mr.  Ireland  has  pointed  out,  but  the  distinc- 
tion is  not  one  worth  wrangling  over.  Java,  with  law 
and  order,  perfect  cultivation,  fine  roads  and  great  in- 
dustrial activity,  the  fairest  garden  in  all  the  world, 
furnishes  the  highest  type  of  industrial  success.  The 
island  is  one  vast  plantation,  owned  by  the  kingdom  of 
Holland.  The  natives  have  lost  the  title  to  the  land 
and  cannot  buy  or  sell  it.  They  pay  their  taxes  to  the 
government  in  work ;  the  labor  is  obligatory  and  the 
obligation  is  enforced  by  law.  In  such  manner  the  peo- 
ple are  rescued  from  natural  indolence.  There  is  pros- 
perity everywhere.  The  state  derives  a  large  revenue, 
the  people  are  relatively  contented,  though  a  stranger  to 
the  idea  of  freedom.  With  politics  the  native  has  noth- 
ing to  do.  Missionaries  are  excluded  from  the  island 
and  the  people  have  only  to  work  as  they  are  told,  and 
enjoy  themselves  as  they  can.  "  This  may  not  be  republi- 
canism, but  it  is  business." 

This  is  a  way  to  a  certain  prosperity  in  the  Philippines, 
but  with  us  it  is  not  a  possible  way.  Our  temper,  our 
traditions,  our  machinery  of  government  leave  no  room 
for  such  despotic  paternalism.  Even  this  method  has 
failed  in  other  Dutch  colonies.  It  fails  with  the  negroes 
in  the  Dutch  colony  of  Surinam.  In  the  midst  of  the 


l6o  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

coffee  harvest  the  people  go  off  to  the  woods  for  a  month 
of  devil  worship.  The  spell  comes  on  them,  and  off  they 
go.  The  only  recourse  of  the  plantation  owners  is  to 
bring  contract  labor  from  China  or  Japan.  This  method 
has  failed  in  Sumatra,  where  the  natives  still  hold  out 
against  the  civilization  that  would  make  money  out  of 
their  work. 

Only  through  coolie  contract  labor  has  industrial  suc- 
cess in  any  of  the  British  West  Indies  been  possible. 
The  natives  will  not  work  continuously  unless  they  are 
forced  to  work  as  slaves.  But  contract  labor  from  the 
outside  means  the  ultimate  extermination  of  the  natives 
themselves. 

In  tropical  Mexico  the  industrial  situation  is  not  much 
better.  The  great  haciendas  in  the  sugar  and  coffee  re- 
gion, cheap  as  labor  is  (six  to  ten  cents  a  day),  are  never 
sure  of  help  when  needed.  Even  now  Senor  Wollheim, 
Mexican  Minister  to  Japan,  is  arranging  for  Japanese 
contract  laborers  to  work  the  great  coffee  plantations  of 
Chiapas  and  Tabasco.  Enforced  labor  of  the  natives, 
contract  labor  from  the  outside — between  these  we  must 
choose,  if  the  tropics  are  made  economically  profitable. 
Both  systems  are  forms  of  slavery,  but  slavery  is  endemic 
in  the  tropics,  freedom  in  the  warm  countries  means 
freedom  from  work,  but  without  work  there  is  no  wealth 
in  mines  or  sugar.  ^ 

"  If  the  Antilles  are  ever  to  thrive,"  says  James  An- 
thony Froude  (as  quoted  by  Mr.  Ireland),  "  each  of  them 
should  have  some  trained  and  skilful  man  at  its  head 
unembarrassed  by  local  elected  assemblies  .  .  .  Let  us 
persist  in  the  other  line,  let  us  use  the  West  Indian  govern- 
ments as  asylums  for  average  worthy  persons  to  be  pro- 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  l6l 

vided  for,  and  force  on  them  black  parliamentary  institu- 
tions as  a  remedy  for  such  persons '  inefficiency,  and 
these  beautiful  countries  will  become  like  Hayti,  with 
Obeah  triumphant  and  children  offered  to  the  devil  and 
salted  and  eaten,  and  the  conscience  of  mankind  wakes 
again  and  the  Americans  sweep  them  all  away." 

Concerning  Dominica,  Mr.  Froude  says :  "  Find  a 
Rajah  Brooke  if  you  can,  or  a  Mr.  Smith  of  Scilly  .  .  . 
Send  him  out  with  no  more  instructions  than  the  Knight 
of  La  Mancha  gave  Sane  ho, — to  fear  God  and  do  his 
duty.  Put  him  on  his  metal.  Promise  him  the  praise 
of  all  good  men  if  he  does  well ;  and  if  he  calls  to  his 
help  intelligent  persons  who  understand  the  cultivation 
of  soils  and  the  management  of  men,  in  half  a  score  of 
years  Dominica  will  be  the  brightest  gem  of  the  Antilles 
.  .  .  The  leading  of  the  wise  few,  the  willing  obedience 
of  the  many,  is  the  beginning  and  end  of  all  right  action. 
Secure  this  and  you  secure  everything.  Fail  to  secure 
this  and  be  your  liberties  as  wide  as  you  can  make  them, 
no  success  is  possible." 

This  ideal  of  Mr.  Froude  is  not  without  precedent  in 
American  colonial  affairs.  The  wonderful  development 
of  New  Metlakahtla  by  William  Duncan  is  the  perfection 
of  wise  paternalism.  Single-handed,  by  the  sheer  force 
of  his  religion  and  his  personal  character,  he  has  changed 
these  cannibal  Indians  into  intelligent,  sober,  self-respect- 
ing, God-fearing  citizens.  But  the  element  of  failure 
lies  in  the  almost  certain  collapse  of  his  work  when  the 
strong  hand  of  the  founder  is  withdrawn.  The  rule  of 
the  Pribilof  Islands  is  the  same  in  theory,  and  under 
competent  men,  as  it  is  to-day,  it  works  well  in  practice. 

But  government  by  rulers  not  responsible  to  the  people 


l62  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

they  rule  is  Imperialism.  It  is  contrary  to  our  ways 
and  traditions,  and  our  newspapers  and  politicians  alike 
hasten  to  repudiate  it.  It  is,  in  fact,  industrial  success 
at  the  expense  of  political  development.  The  alterna- 
tive is  to  bring  the  Filipinos  into  politics,  to  endow 
them  with  the  rights  of  our  citizens,  to  give  them  the 
services  of  our  own  politicians  and  let  natives  and  carpet- 
baggers work  out  their  own  salvation  under  our  forms  of 
law.  I  cannot  imagine  any  government  much  worse 
than  this  might  be,  but  it  is  safer  than  Imperialism,  if 
these  lands  and  these  people  become  a  part  of  our 
democratic  nation.  If  we  must  choose,  let  us  stickJtQ_ 
republican  forms.  A  folly  is  always  better  than  a  crime. 
Confusion,  bankruptcy  and  failure  probably  are  better  in 
the  long  run  than  Imperialism.  They  are  more  easily 
cured.  America  has  ideals  in  civil  government  and  to 
these  she  must  be  loyal.  The  Union  can  never  endure 
"  half  slave,  half  free,"  half  democracy,  half  empire. 
We  cannot  run  a  republic  in  the  West  and  a  slave  plant- 
ation in  the  East.  We  must  set  our  bondsmen  free, 
however  unready  they  may  be  for  freedom.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  our  forms  of  law,  the  evolution  of  ages, 
are  ill-fitted  for  the  needs  of  primitive  men.  Doubtless 
it  would  be  better  for  them  to  work  out  their  own 
destiny  as  we  have  worked  out  ours.  But  if  they  join 
us,  they  must  take  up  with  our  fashions,  because  we  can- 
not  adapt  ourselves  to  theirs. 

The  Anglo-Saxon  is,  doubtless,  the  grandest  of  races, 
pushing,  effective,  successful.  But  it  is  not  the  most 
lovable,  the  most  considerate,  nor  the  most  just  when 
it  covets  what  another  possesses.  Many  Anglo-Saxon 
achievements  are  justified  only  by  success.  "  The  efforts 


A   BLIND    MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  163 

of  our  Anglo-Saxon  nations,"  says  Professor  Lewis  G. 
Janes,  "  to  civilize  inferior  races  by  force  have  always 
been  tragic  failures.  Witness  New  Zealand  where  about 
40,000  Maoris  survive  out  of  700,000  who  were  there 
a  century  ago  ...  It  is  not  the  testimony  of  history 
that  the  best  survive.  The  strongest  and  ablest  resist 
and  are  killed  off.  Those  lacking  in  vitality  who  supinely 
submit  to  the  inevitable  are  the  ones  who  survive  .  .  . 
It  is  the  fate  of  all  people  on  whom  conditions  of  life  are 
forced  in  advance  of  their  functional  development.  Does 
the  tragedy  of  the  passing  of  these  peoples  bring  any 
adequate  compensation  to  the  world  ?  The  sociologist 
and  ethical  teacher  is  compelled  to  say  no.  It  brutalizes 
and  depraves  the  conqueror.  It  perpetuates  despotic 
methods  of  government.  It  prolongs  the  evil  reign  of 
militancy.  It  debases  labor  and  gives  rise  to  class  dis- 
tinctions. 

"The  Maoris,  the  Hawaiians,  the  Filipinos,  the 
Cubans,  are  all  more  competent  to  rule  themselves  than 
we  are  to  govern  them,  i'udged._bY.  any  test  that  implies 
their  permanent  betterment  and  survival  as  a  people. 
We  have  begun  at  the  wrong  end  in  our  efforts  to  civilize 
the  world  .  .  .  The  path  of  conquest  is  gory  with  the 
blood  of  victors  and  victims  alike." 

Says  Goldwin  Smith  :  "  If  empire  is  to  be  regarded 
as  a  field  for  philanthropic  effort  and  the  advancement 
of  civilization,  it  may  safely  be  said  that  nothing  in  that 
way  equals,  or  ever  has  equalled,  the  British  Empire 
in  India.  For  the  last  three-quarters  of  a  century,  at 
all  events,  the  empire  has  steadily  administered  in  the 
interest  of  Hindu.  Yet  what  is  the  result  ?  Two  hun- 
dred millions  of  human  sheep,  without  native  leader- 


164  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

ship,  without  patriotism,  without  aspirations,  without 
spur  to  self-improvement  of  any  kind  j  multiplying,  too 
many  of  them,  in  abject  poverty  and  infantile  depend- 
ence on  §  government  which  their  numbers  and  neces- 
sities will  too  probably  in  the  end  overwhelm.  Great 
Britain  has  deserved  and  won  the  respect  of  the  Hindu ; 
but  she  has  never  won,  and  is  now  perhaps  less  likely 
than  ever  to  win,  his  love.  Lord  Elgin  sorrowfully  ob- 
serves that  there  is  more  of  a  bond  between  man  and 
dog  than  between  Englishman  and  Hindu.  The  natives 
generally  having  been  disarmed  cannot  rise  against  the 
conqueror,  and  their  disaffection  is  shown  only  in  occa- 
sional and  local  outbreaks,  chiefly  of  a  religious  character ; 
or  in  the  impotent  utterances  of  the  native  press.  But 
the  part  of  the  population  which  was  armed,  that  is  to 
say  the  Sepoys,  did  break  out  into  what  was  rather  an 
insurrection  of  caste  than  a  military  mutiny,  and  com- 
mitted atrocities  which  were  fearfully  avenged  by  the 
panic  fears  of  the  dominant  race.  It  is  perilous  busi- 
ness all  round,  this  governing  of  inferior  races.  Nor  is 
it  true  that  the  work  is  done  better  by  the  highest  race 
than  by  one  upon  a  lower  level,  on  which  it  is  not  so  im- 
possible to  sympathize  or  even  fuse  with  the  lowest. 
'  Some  of  the  tribes  of  the  Philippines  are  said  to  be  as 
fierce  as  Apaches.  If  that  is  all,  Uncle  Sam  will  handle 
them  in  his  accustomed  style.'  Is  not  a  warning  con- 
veyed in  such  words?  Dire  experience  has  shown  that 
the  character  of  the  master  suffers  as  well  as  the  body 
of  the  slave. 

"  War,  the  almost  certain  concomitant  of  empire,  is 
alleged  to  have  a  more  blessed  effect  on  the  internal 
harmony  of  nations.  This  we  are,  told  not  only  in  the 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  165 

press,  but  even  from  the  pulpit ;  some  going  even  so  far 
as  to  intimate  that  the  restoration  of  national  harmony 
was  a  sufficient  object  for  this  war.  The  moral  world 
would  be  strangely  out  of  joint  if  a  nation  could  cure 
itself  of  factiousness  or  of  an  internal  disorder  by  shed- 
ding the  blood  and  seizing  the  possessions  of  its  neigh- 
bors. War  has  no  such  virtue.  The  victories  of  the 
Plantagenets  in  France  were  followed  by  insurrections 
and  civil  wars  at  home,  largely  owing  to  the  spirit  of 
violence  which  the  raids  of  France  had  excited.  The 
victories  of  Chatham  were  followed  by  disgraceful  scenes 
of  cabal  and  faction  as  well  as  of  corruption,  terminating 
in  the  prostration  of  patriotism  and  the  domination  of 
George  III.  and  North.  Party  animosities  in  the  United 
States  do  not  seem  to  have  been  banished  or  even  allayed 
by  the  Cuban  War.  Setting  party  divisions  aside,  no 
restoration  of  harmony  appeared  to  be  needed,  so  far  as 
the  white  population  was  concerned.  Not  only  peace, 
but  good-will,  between  the  North  and  the  South  had 
been  restored  in  a  surprising  degree.  The  Blue  and  the 
Gray  had  fraternized  on  the  field  of  Gettysburg.  It  was 
to  harmonize  white  and  black  that  some  kindly  influence 
was  manifestly  and  urgently  needed.  But  all  through 
the  war  and  since  the  war,  American  papers  have  been 
almost  daily  recording  cases  of  lynching,  sometimes  of 
such  a  character  as  to  evince  the  last  extremity  of  hatred 
and  contempt.  The  negro  is  lymphatic,  apathetic, 
patient  of  degradation  and  even  of  insult.  But  San 
Domingo  saw  that  he  had  a  tiger  in  him ;  and  when  the 
tiger  broke  loose,  hell  ensued.  There  has  been  at  least 
one  instance  of  the  retaliatory  lynching  of  a  white  man ; 
and  now  we  have  a  bloody  battle  of  races  at  Virden. 


l66  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

Why  should  the  American  Commonwealth  want  more 
negroes?  " 

It  is  said  that  we  must  conquer  Aguinaldo  because  he 
in  turn  is  unable  to  subdue  the  rest  of  the  fourteen 
hundred  islands.  We  tolerate  two  republics  in  Hayti 
and  five  in  Central  America.  What  matter  if  two  or 
three  exist  in  the  vast  extent  of  the  Philippine  archi- 
pelago? What  business  is  that  of  ours?  These  wide- 
scattered  islands  never  constituted  one  nation  and  never 
will.  The  most  of  them  were  never  in  the  hands  of 
Spain,  except  in  name.  Outside  of  Luzon  there  are 
thirty-two  different  tribes,  it  is  said,  each  a  little  nation 
of  itself,  each  speaking  a  different  tongue.  So  far  from 
being  "  paralyzed  by  centuries  of  Spanish  oppression  " 
as  the  editor  of  the  "Outlook"  describes  them,  most  of 
these  wild  folk  have  never  heard  of  Spain.  What  harm 
if  our  "  new-caught  "  vassal  the  Mohammedan  Sultan  of 
Sulu  shall  continue  to  rule  his  Mohammedan  tribes  in 
Mohammedan  fashion?  We  must  let  him  do  it  anyhow. 
We  cannot  do  it  any  better.  Why  not  a  republic  of 
Visayas  as  well  as  a  republic  of  Luzon?  If  separate 
autonomy  suits  the  people  concerned  why  should  we 
fight  for  unification?  Do  we  believe  that  Spanish  rule 
was  better  than  freedom?  These  wild  tribes  must  work 
out  their  own  destiny  or  else  go  into  slavery.  •  Perhaps 
the  latter  is  their  manifest  destiny.  There  is  no  reason 
why  we  should  make  it  ours. 

As  I  have  said  many  times,  the  function  of  democracy 
is  not  to  secure  good  government,  but  to  strengthen  the 
people  so  that  they  may  be  wise  enough  to  make  good 
government  for  themselves.  The  real  white  man's  burden 
is  not  the  control  of  delinquent  and  dependent  races, 


A   BLIND    MAN'S    HOLIDAY.  167 

the  turning  of  indolence  into  gold.  It  is  the  develop- 
ment of  what  is  sound  and  sane  in  human  nature,  the 
elimination  of  war  and  corruption  by  the  force  of  healthy 
manhood. 

It  is  said  that  the  politics  of  America  is  "  insufferably 
parochial,"  its  problems  petty  and  local,  and  that  to  hold 
a  hand  in  the  affairs  of  the  world  is  essential  to  the 
development  of  great  men  in  freedom.  But  "  insuffer- 
ably parochial,"  the  affairs  of  free  men  must  ever  be. 
The  best  government  is  that  which  best  minds  its  own 
business.  Our  own  affairs  are  always  local  and  devoid 
of  world- wide  interest.  Only  through  usurpation  and 
tyranny  do  governmental  affairs  attract  the  fickle  notice 
of  the  world  at  large. 

Annexationists  now  admit  that  the  seizure  of  the 
Philippines  is  a  "  leap  in  the  dark."  But  this  is  not  the 
truth.  Every  element  in  the  matter  is  known,  and  well 
known,  to  every  student  of  political  science.  Our  ex- 
cellent commission  can  bring  us  no  new  facts.  What 
we  do  not  know  is  which  way  Congress  may  decide  to 
leap.  Between  military  rule  and  democratic  anarchy 
there  is  all  the  difference  in  the  world,  and  the  degree 
of  our  final  disappointment  depends  on  our  policy  as  to 
conciliation,  taxation,  and  the  control  of  the  civil  service. 

Just  when  shall  we  begin  democratic  rule  in  the  Philip- 
pines? How  shall  we  make  it  work  with  a  people  alien 
and  perverse,  who  have  no  Anglo-Saxon  instincts  and  no 
relation  to  our  history?  It  will  take  some  time,  some 
say  20  years,  some  500,  of  military  discipline  to  prepare 
them  to  do  their  part  as  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
their  part  in  governing  us.  Military  rule  is  offensive  and 
costly.  The  longer  it  endures  the  less  fitted  are  the 


l68  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

people  for  civic  independence.  Are  we  ready  to  meet 
the  expense?  Some  say  that  we  must  wait  till  the 
Anglo-Saxon  is  in  the  numerical  majority.  That  time 
will  never  come.  With  every  rod  of  Luzon  soil  marked 
by  an  Anglo-Saxon  grave,  the  living  Anglo-Saxons  would 
be  a  hopeless  minority. 

"At  Batavia,"  says  Mr.  Valentine,  the  principal  city 
of  Java,  which  was  originally  situated  in  the  midst  of  a 
deadly  swamp,  the  mortality  was  appalling,  and  the  settle- 
ment in  its  early  years  was  known  as  the  graveyard  of 
Europeans.  Dutch  records  show  that  at  Batavia,  1,119, 
375  deaths  occurred  between  the  years  1730  and  1752, 
or  in  22  years;  and  87,000  soldiers  and  sailors  died  in 
the  government  hospitals  between  the  years  1714  and 
1776. 

"To  indicate  the  small  percentage  of  whites  to 
Malays,  I  mention,  in  passing,  that  at  the  present  time 
the  total  population  of  the  district  known  as  the  Malay 
Straits  Settlements  is  probably  550,000  of  whom  not 
4,000  are  whites." 

If  we  go  further  into  details  of  control  of  the  tropics 
we  shall  see  that  difficulties  accumulate.  When  we  con- 
sider a  tariff  policy  for  the  Philippine  Islands  we  find 
ourselves  at  once  between  the  devil  and  the  deep  sea. 
The  "  open  door  "  is  the  price  of  England's  favor,  or 
rather  it  is  the  price  of  the  approval  of  England's  ruling 
politicians.  It  is  the  price  of  our  own  commerce.  A 
generous  policy  as  to  foreign  trade  is  essential  to  any 
kind  of  prosperity.  But  the  open  door  to  commerce 
marks  the  doom  of  our  protective  system.  It  is  left 
for  Imperialism  to  give  the  death-blow  to  Protectionism. 
The  open  door  places  the  veto  on  our  schemes  for 


A   BLIND    MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  169 

Asiatic  exclusion.  To  open  the  doors  of  the  Orient  is 
to  open  our  doors  to  Asia  as  well.  To  do  or  not  to  do 
is  alike  difficult  and  dangerous.  The  feeling  that  unless 
we  can  exploit  the  islands  and  ultimately  exterminate 
their  inhabitants,  we  do  not  want  them  at  all,  is  growing, 
especially  in  humanitarian  circles.  The  dead  hand  of 
monasticism  already  holds  a  great  part  of  Luzon.  This 
we  cannot  tolerate,  for  it  was  the  head  and  front  of 
Spanish  oppression;  nor  by  our  Constitution  can  we 
remedy  it.  We  are  bound  to  respect  the  rights  of 
property,  however  acquired.  Our  sole  remedy  for  any 
ill  is  freedom.  For  these  problems  I  see  no  solution, 
nor  indeed  should  we  hope  for  any.  If  the  Administra- 
tion should  formulate  any  policy  whatever,  two- thirds  of 
the  expansionists  would  repudiate  it.  There  is  no  scheme 
on  which  we  can  agree  which  can  be  made  to  work. 

"Something  between  an  American  territory  and  a 
British  colony,"  we  are  told,  is  to  be  their  final  condition. 
A  territory  is  a  waiting  state ;  a  colony  is  land  held 
under  martial  law  or  in  any  other  way  for  the  good  of 
trade.  To  work  for  something  between  these  is  to  fail 
on  every  hand.  As  matters  are,  we  shall  fall  short  of 
Imperialism.  On  the  other  hand,  we  shall  fail  to  give 
justice.  The  final  result  will  be  a  hybrid  military 
imperialistic-democratic  occupation,  unworthy  the  name 
of  government,  the  laughing-stock  of  monarchy,  the 
shame  of  democracy.  Toward  such  a  condition  the 
movement  of  events  is  swiftly  rushing  us. 

I  note  in  the  journals  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury in  his  estimates  takes  no  account  of  the  revenue  to 
be  derived  from  Cuba  and  the  Philippines.  For  this 
the  papers  justly  praise  his  wisdom.  There  can  be  no 


I/O  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

real  revenue  from  these  sources.  The  only  income 
which  any  people  can  receive  from  colonies  is  through 
increase  of  trade.  This  goes  into  private  hands,  but 
finally  swells  the  wealth  of  taxables.  Since  her  experi- 
ence in  1776,  England  has  never  taxed  her  colonies. 
The  more  worthless  islands  we  undertake  to  conquer  and 
rule  the  further  are  we  from  a  favorable  balance  of 
accounts. 

We  now  come  to  the  final  question  :  If  we  take  the 
Philippines,  what  will  they  do  to  us? 

If  we  fail,  they  will  corrupt  and  weaken  us.  If  we 
succeed  and  continue  our  success,  they  will  destroy  our 
national  ideals.  To  rule  them  as  a  vassal  nation  is  to 
abandon  our  democracy,  to  introduce  into  our  government 
machinery  which  is  not  in  the 'people's  hands.  Shall  we 
-.  handle  our  vassals  through  the  President,  through  Con- 
gress, or  through  military  occupation?  Obviously  mili- 
tary occupation,  under  the  direction  of  the  Executive,  is 
the  only  possible  way.  Congress  is  too  busy  with  other 
things.  Paternalism  degenerates  into  tyranny,  and  with- 
out the  artificial  stimulus  of  honor  and  titles  which  Eng- 
land so  lavishly  uses,  tyranny  becomes  corruption  and 
neglect.  To  admit  the  Filipinos  to  equality  in  govern- 
}  ment  is  to  degrade  our  own  citizenship  with  only  the 
slightest  prospect  of  ever  raising  theirs.  It  is  to  estab- 
lish rotten  boroughs  where  corruption,  shall  be  the  rule 
and  true  democracy  impossible.  The  relation  of  our 
people  to  the  lower  races  of  men  of  whatever  kind  has 
been  one  which  degrades  and  exasperates.  Every  alien 
race  within  our  borders  to-day,  is  an  element  of  danger. 
When  the  Anglo-Saxon  meets  the  Negro,  the  Chinaman, 
the  Indian,  the  Mexican  as  fellow-citizens,  equal  before 


A   BLIND    MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  I /I 

the  law,  we  have  a  raw  wound  in  our  political  organism. 
Democracy  demands  likeness  of  aims  and  purposes 
among  its  units.  Each  citizen  must  hold  his  own  free- 
dom in  a  republic.  If  men  cannot  hold  their  rights 
through  our  methods  our  machinery  runs  over  them. 
The  Anglo-Saxon  will  not  mix  with  the  lower  races. 
Neither  will  he  respect  their  rights  if  they  are  not  strong 
enough  to  maintain  them  for  themselves.  If  they  can 
do  this  they  cease  to  be  lower  races. 

Between  Imperialism  on  the  one  hand  and  assimila- 
tion on  the  other,  are  all  unwholesome  possibilities.  An 
efficient  colonial  bureau  would  be,  as  in  England,  an 
affair  of  the  Crown,  its  details  out  of  the  people's  hands. 
An  inefficient  one  would  be  simply  spoils  in  the  hands  of 
future  Tammanies.  Unless  represented  in  Congress  and 
potent  in  party  conventions  outlying  possessions  will  be 
wholly  neglected.  When  the  newspaper  correspondents 
are  called  home  nobody  cares  what  goes  on  in  Cuba  or 
Manila.  We  have  not  yet  framed  a  code  of  laws  for 
Hawaii  or  Alaska. 

With  the  war  in  Luzon  a  certain  class  of  obligations 
have  arisen.  These  should  be  met  in  manly  fashion. 
But  the  final  result  should  not  be  a  Philippine  State, 
which  shall  rule  itself  and  help  rule  us.  Still  less  do  we 
want  an  oligarchy  of  sugar  syndicates,  or  a  rule  by  mili- 
tary force,  or  a  carpet-bag  anarchy  like  that  which  once 
desolated  the  South,  nor  the  equal  corruption  of  rule 
under  agents  and  pro-consuls  sent  out  from  Washington. 
These  alternatives  are  all  abhorrent,  and  we  see  no  other 
save  that  of  chronic  hopeless  guerilla  warfare,  the  con- 
dition in  Luzon  to-day,  unless  we  recognize  Philippine 
independence.  This  has  its  embarrassments,  too,  but 


IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

they  are  honorable  ones  and  can  leave  no  disgrace  or 
regret. 

The  establishment  of  a  protectorate  over  the  indepen- 
dent Philippines  has  many  difficulties.  It  is  on  the  one 
hand  a  scheme  for  finally  seizing  the  islands,  on  the  other 
a  device  to  let  them  go  easily.  If  we  assume  unasked  re- 
sponsibilities for  them,  they  will  be  reckless  in  making 
trouble.  A  protected  republic  is  the  acme  of  irresponsi- 
bility. Its  politicians  may  declare  war  against  neutral 
nations,  solely  "  to  see  the  wheels  go  round."  As  mat- 
ters now  stand,  however,  we  have  no  other  course  before 
us,  and  the  blunders  in  dealing  with  Aguinaldo  have 
made  this  course  not  easy.  The  protectorate  is  favored 
by  the  best  judgment  of  the  Filipinos  themselves.  They 
ask  the  help  and  sympathy  of  America. 

Ramon  Reyes  Lala,  a  full-blooded  Filipino,  born  in 
Luzon,  but  educated  in  England,  an  American  citizen, 
of  standing  in  New  York,  is  quoted  as  saying : 

"  Although  I  believe  we  have  a  great  future,  I  can- 
not disguise  to  myself  the  fact  that  we  are  not  yet  ready 
for  independence.  More  especially  because  the  Fili- 
pinos have  not  had  the  preparation  for  self-government 
possessed  by  the  founders  of  the  American  Republic. 
And  I  apprehend  that,  intoxicated  with  their  new-found 
liberty,  the  Filipinos  might  perpetrate  excesses  that  would 
prove  fatal  to  the  race.  I  feel  this  all  the  more  when  I 
consider  that  the  revolutionary  leaders,  Aguinaldo  and 
his  companions,  though  fervent  patriots,  do  not  represent 
the  best  classes  of  my  countrymen,  who,  almost  without 
exception,  are  for  a  protectorate,  or  for  annexation. 

"  And  it  is  this  that  I,  too,  a  Filipino,  desire  most 
ardently.  Give  us  an  American  protectorate ;  a  terri- 


A   BLIND    MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  1/3 

torial  government ;  the  judiciary,  the  customs,  and  the 
executive  in  the  hands  of  Federal  officials ;  the  interior 
and  domestic  administration  in  the  hands  of  the  Filipi- 
nos themselves ;  and  their  self-selected  officials  will  rule 
understandingly  and  well  without  friction,  which  would 
be  wholly  impossible  for  alien  functionaries  begotten  of 
a  Western  civilization. 

"Of  you,  Americans,  I,  a  Filipino,  therefore,  beg  to 
not  leave  my  countrymen  as  you  found  them  !  You  can- 
not, in  humanity,  give  them  back  into  Spanish  bondage. 
You  cannot,  in  justice,  sell  them  to  some  European 
power  to  become  subject,  most  likely,  to  another  tyr- 
anny. They  feel  that  they  have  fought  for  and  won 
their  own  freedom,  though  acknowledging  that  you  have 
facilitated  it.  They  would,  therefore,  oppose  such  dis- 
position to  the  bitter  death.  And  a  Filipino  knows  how 
to  die  !  Let  a  thousand  martyrs  attest ! 

"  You  must  help  them,  you  who  have  so  nobly  assisted 
in  freeing  them ;  you  must  make  it  possible  for  them 
to  attain  their  destiny — the  realization  of  the  national 
self." 

The  following  words  of  Mr.  Clay  McCauley,  are 
worthy  of  careful  consideration  in  this  connection : 
"As  a  result  of  a  study  of  the  situation  at  Manila, 
I  think  there  are  only  three  ways  open  to  the  United 
States  for  the  solution  of  the  Philippines  problem. 
In  the  first  place  the  islands  must  be  annexed  by 
force  or  purchase.  The  use  of  force  means  that  the 
United  States  will  be  plunged  into  the  most  disastrous 
foreign  war  in  their  history,  a  war  that  would  entail 
great  loss  of  life  and  treasure  and  the  violation  of  na- 
tional honor.  Purchase  means  the  recognition  of  the 


1/4  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

insurgents  as  allies  during  the  war  with  Spain,  the  re- 
ward of  the  leaders  with  high  office  and  salaries,  the 
employment  of  insurgents  in  military  and  civil  offices, 
with  back  pay  as  allies  for  some  months,  etc.  Such  pur- 
chase would  secure  a  compromising  gain  of  doubtful 
tenure. 

"  Generally  speaking,  the  Americans  in  Manila  are 
opposed  to  annexation  in  any  form.  The  second  way 
open  is  to  make  a  complete  transfer  of  the  sovereignty 
in  these  islands  from  Spain  to  the  Philippine  Republic, 
the  United  States  retaining  for  its  own  use  Manila  bay 
and  ports — like  Hong  Kong  by  Great  Britain.  This 
solution  means  the  defenseless  exposure  of  the  Philip- 
pine Islands  to  the  greed  of  the  world's  powers,  with  a 
consequent  acute  crisis  in  Europe  over  its  far  eastern 
question.  This  way  is  neither  honorable  nor  wise.  The 
third  is  to  recognize  the  autonomy  of  the  Philippines 
under  an  American  protectorate.  This  means  inde- 
pendence for  the  Philippine  Republic  in  the  administra- 
tion of  its  own  internal  affairs,  the  United  States  taking 
charge  of  the  supreme  judiciary  and  the  republic's  for- 
eign relations,  such  as  the  power  to  declare  war  or  to 
enter  into  treaties  with  foreign  powers  and  the  control  of 
the  customs.  This  solution  might  bring  about  tutelage 
toward  absolute  independence  in  the  future  or  voluntary 
annexation  to  the  United  States.  Only  by  the  third  way 
can  there  be  peace  and  prosperity  for  both  the  United 
States  and  the  Philippines.  Immediate  action  is  im- 
perative." 

As  to  our  true  policy  of  to-day  I  give  the  fullest  in- 
dorsement to  the  sane  words  of  Professor  Janes,  in  sub- 
stance as  follows : 


A   BLIND   MAN'S   HOLIDAY.  175 

1.  Let  us  carry  out  the  solemn  pledge  made  to  the 
world  with  respect  to  Cuba,  and  retain  military  posses- 
sion only  long  enough  to  enable  the  Cubans  to  organize 
a  government  of  their  own.     We  have  no  right  to  insist 
that  our  own,  or  any  particular  form  of   government, 
shall  be  adopted  by  the  Cubans,  or  to  impose  qualifica- 
tions of  citizenship  upon  them. 

2.  The  same  rule  should  be  adopted  in  regard  to  Porto 
Rico. 

3.  This   government    should    acquire    no    inhabited 
country  which    cannot   be    made   self-governing   under 
our   forms   and   ultimately  received  into  the  family  of 
States.     If,  in  the  future,  the  people  of  Cuba  and  Porto 
Rico  agree  with  those  of  the  United  States  that  annexa- 
tion is  mutually  desirable,  the  matter  can  be  decided, 
and  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  their  constitu- 
tion and  ours. 

4.  Our  policy  in  the  Philippines  should  be  exactly  the 
same.     Let  the  people  fit  their  government  to  their  own 
needs  with  the  guarantee  of  our  protection  from  outside 
interference  for  a  time,  at  least. 

5.  Under  no  circumstances  should  distant  territory  in- 
habited by  an  alien  population,  not  self-governing  under 
republican  forms,  be  retained  as  a  permanent  possession 
by  the  United  States. 

The  immediate  necessity  of  the  day  is  set  forth  in  the 
petition  of  the  "  Anti-Imperialist  League  :  "  * 

*  This  petition  is  signed  by  the  following  persons  : 

George  S.  Boutwell,  of  Massachusetts. 
George  F.  Edmunds,  of  Vermont. 
John  Sherman,  of  Ohio. 
Donelson  Caffery,  of  Louisiana. 


176  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

"  They  urge,  therefore,  all  lovers  of  freedom,  without 
regard  to  party  associations,  to  co-operate  with  them  to 
the  following  ends : 

"First.  That  our  government  shall  take  immediate 
steps  towards  a  suspension  of  hostilities  in  the  Philip- 
pines and  a  conference  with  the  Philippine  leaders,  with 
a  view  of  preventing  further  bloodshed  upon  the  basis 
of  a  recognition  of  their  freedom  and  independence  as 
soon  as  proper  guarantees  can  be  had  of  order  and  pro- 
tection to  property. 

"Second.  That   the  Congress  of   the   United   States 

W.  Bourke  Cockran,  of  New  York. 

William  H.  Fleming,  of  Georgia. 

Henry  U.  Johnson,  of  Indiana. 

Samuel  Gompers,  of  Washington. 

Felix  Adler,  of  New  York. 

David  Starr  Jordan,  of  California. 

Winslow  Warren,  of  Massachusetts. 

Herbert  Welsh,  of  Pennsylvania. 

Leonard  Woolsey  Bacon,  of  Connecticut. 

Charles  Francis  Adams,  of  Massachusetts. 

Samuel  Bowles,  of  Massachusetts. 

I.  J.  McGmity,  of  Cornell  University. 

Edward  Atkinson,  of  Massachusetts. 

Carl  Schurz,  of  New  York. 

Reverdy  Johnson,  of  Maryland. 

Herrmann  von  Hoist,  of  Chicago  University, 

Moorfield  Storey,  of  Massachusetts. 

Patrick  A.  Collins,  of  Massachusetts. 

Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  of  New  York. 

Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson,  of  Massachusetts. 

Andrew  Carnegie,  of  New  York. 

John  G.  Carlisle,  of  Kentucky. 

Charles  Eliot  Norton,  of  Harvard  University. 

W.  G.  Sumner,  of  Yale  University. 

C.  II.  Parkhurst,  of  New  York. 


A   BLIND   MAN  S   HOLIDAY.  1 77 

shall  tender  an  official  assurance  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Philippine  Islands  that  they  will  encourage  and  assist 
in  the  organization  of  such  a  government  in  the  islands 
as  the  people  thereof  shall  prefer,  and  that  upon  its  or- 
ganization in  stable  manner  the  United  States,  in  accord- 
ance with  its  traditional  and  prescriptive  policy  in  such 
cases,  will  recognize  the  independence  of  the  Philip- 
pines and  its  equality  among  nations,  and  gradually 
withdraw  all  military  and  naval  forces." 

There  is  nothing  before  us  now  save  to  make  peace 
with  the  Filipinos,  to  get  our  money  back  if  we  can,  to 
get  a  coaling  station  if  we  must — and  get  out.  These 
people  must  first  be  free  before  they  can  enter  a  nation  of 
freemen. 

As  to  details,  it  rests  with  those  who  have  the  power  to 
act  to  lay  out  a  plan  of  action.  It  is  useless  for  the 
plain  citizen  to  urge  or  suggest  anything,  for  there  is  no 
possible  line  of  conduct  not  fraught  with  serious  difficul- 
ties, and  none  which  does  not  demand  the  highest  order 
of  statesmanship.  The  worst  possible  line  of  conduct  is 
to  let  matters  drift  along  the  current  of  destiny,  in  the 
hope  that  some  easy  solution  may  develop.  To  postpone 
action  on  vital  questions  may  be  good  politics  but  it 
is  bad  statesmanship.  The  handling  of  affairs  like  this 
demands  indeed  the  services  of  "  the  best  ye  breed,"  not 
as  soldiers  but  as  doers  of  deeds. 

I  may  quote  in  this  connection  the  noble  words  of 
Carl  Schurz : 

"  We  are  told  that,  having  grown  so  great  and  strong,  we  must 
at  least  cast  off  our  childish  reverence  for  the  teachings  of  Wash- 
ington's farewell  address — '  nursery  rhymes  that  were  sung 
around  the  cradle  of  the  republic.'  I  apprehend  that  many  of 


i;8  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

those  who  now  so  flippantly  scoff  at  the  heritage  the  Father  of 
his  Country  left  us  in  his  last  words  of  admonition,  have  never 
read  that  venerable  document.  I  challenge  those  who  have  to 
show  me  a  single  sentence  of  general  import  in  it  that  would  not 
as  a  wise  rule  of  national  conduct  apply  to  the  circumstances  of 
to-day.  What  is  it  that  has  given  to  Washington's  farewell  ad- 
dress an  authority  that  wras  revered  by  all  until  our  recent  vic- 
tories made  so  many  of  us  drunk  with  wild  ambitions  ?  Not 
alone  the  prestige  of  Washington's  name,  great  as  that  was  and 
should  ever  remain.  No,  it  was  the  fact  that  under  a  respect- 
ful observance  of  those  teachings  this  Republic  has  grown 
from  the  most  modest  beginnings  into  a  Union  spanning  this 
vast  continent,  our  people  having  multiplied  from  a  handful  to 
75,000,000;  we  have  risen  from  poverty  to  a  wealth  the  sum  of 
which  the  imagination  can  hardly  grasp ;  this  American  nation 
has  become  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  powerful  on  earth,  and, 
continuing  in  the  same  course,  will  surely  become  the  greatest 
and  most  powerful  of  all.  Not  Washington's  name  alone  gave 
his  teachings  their  dignity  and  weight ;  it  was  the  practical  re- 
sults of  his  policy  that  secured  to  it,  until  now,  the  intelligent 
approbation  of  the  American  people.  And  unless  we  have  com- 
pletely lost  our  senses,  we  shall  never  despise  and  reject  as  mere 
'  nursery  rhymes '  the  words  of  wisdom  left  us  by  the  greatest 
of  Americans,  following  which  the  American  people  have  achieved 
a  splendor  of  development  without  parallel  in  the  history  of  man- 
kind." 

The  grave  responsibility  we  have  assumed,  that  of 
bringing  freedom  to  the  oppressed,  calls  us  to  act  with 
conscience  and  with  caution.  We  are  no  longer  a  child 
nation,  a  band  of  irresponsible  human  colts,  but  mature 
men,  capable  of  wielding  the  strongest  influence  humanity 
has  felt.  We  must  shun  folly.  We  must  despise  greed. 
We  must  turn  from  glitter  and  cant  and  sham.  We  must 
hate  injustice  as  we  have  hated  intolerance  and  oppres- 
sion. We  must  never  forget  among  the  nations  we  alone 
stand  for  the  individual  man. 


A   BLIND    MAN'S    HOLIDAY.  179 

The  greatness  of  a  nation  lies  not  in  its  bigness  but  in 
its  justice,  in  the  wisdom  and  virtue  of  its  people,  and  in 
the  prosperity  of  their  individual  affairs.  The  nation 
exists  for  its  men,  never  the  men  for  the  nation.  At  the 
end  of  our  Civil  War,  in  1865,  it  was  feared  that  by  the 
compromise  of  reconstruction  the  principle  of  inequality 
before  the  law  would  be  again  engrafted  on  our  polity. 
It  was  then  that  Lowell  put  these  memorable  words  into 
the  mouth  of  his  Yankee  patriot,  Hosea  Biglow  : 

I  seem  to  hear  a  whisperin'  in  the  air, 

A  sighin',  like,  of  unconsoled  despair, 

Thet  comes  from  nowhere  an'  from  everywhere, 

An'  seems  to  say,  "  Why  died  we  ?  warn't  it,  then, 

To  settle,  once  for  all,  thet  MEN  wuz  MEN  ? 

Oh,  airth's  sweet  cup  snetched  from  us  barely  tasted, 

The  grave's  real  chill  is  feelin'  life  wuz  wasted ! 

Oh,  you  we  lef,  long-lingerin'  et  the  door, 

Lovin'  you  best,  coz  we  loved  Her  the  more, 

Thet  Death,  not  we,  had  conquered,  we  should  feel 

Ef  she  upon  our  memory  turned  her  heel, 

An'  unregretful  thro  wed  us  all  away 

To  flaunt  it  in  a  BLIND  MAN'S  HOLIDAY!  " 


IV. 
COLONIAL  LESSONS  OF  ALASKA. 


IV. 
COLONIAL  LESSONS  OF  ALASKA.* 

**  And  there's  never  a  law  of  God  or  man  runs   north  of  Fifty- 
Three." 

KIPLING. 

THE  United  States  is  about  to  enter  on  an  experience 
which  the  London  Speaker  cleverly  describes  as  "  com- 
pulsory imperialism."  Wisely  or  not,  willingly  or  not, 
we  have  assumed  duties  toward  alien  races  which  can  be 
honorably  discharged  only  by  methods  foreign  to  our 
past  experience.  In  the  interests  of  humanity,  our 
armies  have  entered  the  mismanaged  territories  of  Spain. 
The  interests  of  humanity  demand  that  our  influence 
should  not  be  withdrawn  and  the  duties  we  have  hastily 
assumed  cannot  be  discharged  within  a  single  genera- 
tion. 

For  an  object  lesson  illustrating  methods  to  be  avoided 
in  the  rule  of  future  colonies  we  have  not  far  to  seek. 
Most  forms  of  governmental  pathology  are  exemplified 
in  the  history  of  Alaska.  From  this  history  it  is  my  pur- 
pose to  draw  certain  lessons  which  may  be  useful  in  our 
future  colonial  experience. 

Thirty  years  ago  (1867)  the  United  States  purchased 
*  Printed  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  November,  1898. 

183 


1 84  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

from  Russia  the  vast  territory  of  Alaska,  rich  in  native 
resources,  furs,  fish,  lumber,  and  gold,  thinly  populated 
with  half-civilized  tribes  from  whose  consent  no  govern- 
ment could  "  derive  just  powers  "  nor  any  other.  In  the 
nature  of  things,  the  region  as  a  whole  must  be  incapable 
of  taking  care  of  itself,  in  the  ordinary  sense  in  which 
states,  counties,  and  cities  in  the  United  States  look  after 
their  own  affairs.  The  town-meeting  idea  on  which 
our  democracy  is  organized  could  have  no  application  in 
Alaska,  for  Alaska  is  not  a  region  of  homes  and  house- 
holders. The  widely  separated  villages  and  posts  have  few 
interests  in  common.  The  settlements  are  scattered  along 
a  wild  coast,  inaccessible  one  to  another;  most  of  the 
natives  are  subject  to  an  alien  priesthood,  the  white  men 
knowing  "  no  law  of  God  nor  man."  With  these  elements, 
a  civic  feeling  akin  to  the  civic  life  in  the  United  States 
can  in  no  way  be  built  up. 

It  is  a  common  saying  among  Americans  in  the  north 
that  "  they  are  not  in  Alaska  for  their  health."  They 
are  there  for  the  money  to  be  made,  and  for  that  only ; 
caring  no  more  for  the  country  than  a  fisherman  cares 
for  a  discarded  oyster-shell.  Of  the  few  thousand  who 
were  employed  there  before  the  mining  excitement  be- 
gan, probably  more  than  half  returned  to  San  Francisco 
in  the  winter.  Their  relation  to  the  territory  was  and  is 
commercial  only,  and  not  civil. 

Alaska  has  an  area  nearly  one  fifth  as  large  as  the  rest 
of  the  United  States,  and  a  coast  line  as  long  as  all  the 
rest.  Outside  the  gold  fields  the  permanent  white  pop- 
ulation is  practically  confined  to  the  coast,  and  only  in 
two  villages,  Juneau  and  Sitka,  can  homes  in  the  Ameri- 
can sense  be  said  to  exist.  Even  these  towns,  rela- 


COLONIAL   LESSONS   OF   ALASKA.  185 

tively  large  and  near  together,  are  two  days'  journey 
apart,  with  communication,  as  a  rule,  once  a  week. 

When  Alaska  came  into  our  hands,  we  found  there  a 
native  population  of  about  32,000.  Of  these,  about 
12,000 — Thlinkits,  Tinnehs,  Hydas,  etc. — are  more  or 
less  properly  called  Indians.  Of  the  rest,  about  18,000 
— Innuits,  or  Eskimos,  and  some  2500  Aleuts — are  allied 
rather  to  the  Mongolian  races  of  Asia.  There  were 
about  2000  Russian  Creoles  and  half-breeds  living  with 
the  Aleuts  and  Innuits,  and  in  general  constituting  a  rul- 
ing class  among  them,  besides  a  few  Americans,  mostly 
traders  and  miners. 

Then,  as  now,  the  natives  in  Alaska  were  gentle  and 
childlike ;  some  of  them  with  a  surface  civilization,  others 
living  in  squalid  fashion  in  filthy  sod  houses.  They  all 
supported  themselves  mainly  by  hunting  and  fishing. 
Dried  salt  salmon,  or  #/£/was  the  chief  article  of  diet, 
and  the  luxuries,  which  as  time  went  on  became  neces- 
sities of  civilization, — flour,  tea,  sugar,  and  tobacco, — were 
purchased  by  the  sale  of  valuable  furs,  especially  those 
of  the  sea  otter  and  the  blue  fox.  The  Greek  Church, 
in  return  for  its  ministrations,  received,  as  a  rule,  one 
skin  in  every  nine  taken  by  the  hunters.  The  boats  of 
the  natives  outside  the  timbered  region  of  southeastern 
Alaska  were  made  of  the  skin  of  the  gray  sea  lion,  which 
had  its  rookeries  at  intervals  along  the  coast.  With  the 
advent  of  Americans  the  sea  lion  became  rare  in  southern 
Alaska,  great  numbers  being  wantonly  shot  because 
they  were  "  big  game  ;  "  and  the  natives  in  the  Aleutian 
region  were  forced  to  secure  sea  lion  skins  by  barter 
with  the  tribes  living  farther  to  the  north.  This  process 
was  facilitated  by  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company, 


1 86  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

which  maintained  its  trading-posts  along  the  coast,  ex- 
changing for  furs,  walrus  tusks,  and  native  baskets  the 
articles  needed  or  craved  by  the  natives. 

Of  all  articles  held  by  the  latter  for  exchange,  the  fur 
of  the  sea  otter  was  by  far  the  most  important.  Since 
these  animals  were  abundant  throughout  the  Aleutian 
region  thirty  years  ago,  and  the  furs  were  valued  at 
from  $300  to  $1,000  "each,  their  hunters  became  rela- 
tively wealthy,  and  the  little  Aleut  villages  became 
abodes  of  comparative  comfort.  In  the  settlement  of 
Belkofski,  on  the  peninsula  of  Alaska,  numbering  165 
persons  all  told,  I  found  in  the  Greek  Church  a  com- 
munion service  of  solid  gold,  and  over  the  altar  was  a 
beautiful  painting, — small  in  size  but  exquisitely  finished, 
— which  had  been  bought  in  St.  Petersburg  for  $250. 
When  these  articles  were  purchased,  Belkofski  was  a 
center  for  the  sea  otter  chase.  With  wise  government, 
this  condition  of  prosperity  might  have  continued  in- 
definitely. But  we  have  allowed  the  sea  otter  herd  to  be 
wasted.  The  people  of  Belkofski  can  now  secure  noth- 
ing which  the  world  cares  to  buy.  As  they  have  no 
means  of  buying,  the  company  has  closed  its  trading 
post,  after  a  year  or  two  of  losses  and  charity.  The 
people  have  become  dependent  on  the  dress  and  food 
of  civilization.  Suffering  for  want  of  sugar,  flour,  to- 
bacco, and  tea,  which  are  now  necessities,  and  having 
no  way  of  securing  material  for  boats,  they  are  abjectly 
helpless.  I  was  told  in  1897  that  the  people  of  Wosnes- 
senski  Island  were  starving  to  death,  and  that  Belkofski, 
the  next  to  starve,  had  sent  them  a  relief  expedition. 
I  have  no  information  as  to  conditions  in  1898,  but  cer- 
tainly starvation  is  imminent  in  all  the  various  settle- 


COLONIAL  LESSONS   OF  ALASKA.  iS/ 

ments  dependent  on  the  company's  store  and  on  the  sea 
otter.*  Some  time  ago  it  was  reported  that  at  Port 
Etches  the  native  population  was  already  huddled  to- 
gether in  the  single  cellar  of  an  abandoned  warehouse, 
and  that  other  villages  to  the  eastward  were  scarcely 
better  housed.  However  this  may  be,  starvation  is  in- 
evitable along  the  whole  line  of  the  southwestern  coast. 
From  Prince  William's  Sound  to  Attu,  a  distance  of 
nearly  1,800  miles,  there  is  not  a  village  (except  Un- 
alaska  and  Unga  |)  where  the  people  have  any  sure 
means  of  support.  These  people,  1,165  m  number, 
have  no  present  outlook  save  extermination.  For  permit- 
ting them  to  face  such  a  doom  we  have  not  even  the 
excuse  we  have  had  for  destroying  the  Indians.  We  want 
neither  the  land  nor  the  property  of  the  Aleuts.  When 
their  tribes  shall  have  disappeared,  their  islands  are 
likely  to  remain  desolate  forever. 

The  case  of  the  sea  otter  merits  further  examination. 
The  animal  itself  is  of  the  size  of  a  large  dog,  with  long 
full  gray  fur,  highly  valued  especially  in  Russia,  where  it 

*  In  1897,  the  trading  posts  of  Akutan,  Sannak,  Morjovi, 
Wosnessenski,  Belkofski,  Chernofski,  Kashega,  Makushin,  and 
Bjorka  were  abandoned  by  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company, 
while  the  stores  at  Atka  and  Attu  were  turned  over  to  a  former 
agent. 

t  In  Unga  the  Aleuts  find  work  in  the  gold  mines,  at  Unalaska 
in  the  lading  of  vessels.  Very  lately  extensive  shipyards  have 
been  established  at  Unalaska,  and  natives  from  the  various  settle- 
ments in  the  Aleutian  Islands,  from  Akutan  to  Attu,  are  tempo- 
rarily employed  there.  It  has  been  found  necessary  to  build 
vessels  destined  for  the  Yukon  river  at  some  port  in  Bering  Sea, 
as  none  of  those  constructed  to  the  southward  have  survived  the 
rough  seas  of  the  North  Pacific.  But  this  shipbuilding  industry 
must  be  of  very  short  duration. 


1 88  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

was  once  an  indispensable  part  of  the  uniform  of  the 
army  officer.  The  sea  otters  wander  in  pairs,  or  some- 
times in  herds  of  from  twenty  to  thirty,  spending  most  of 
their  time  in  the  sea.  They  are  shy  and  swift,  and 
when  their  haunts  on  land  are  once  disturbed  they  rarely 
return  to  them.  Any  foreign  odor — as  the  smell  of  man, 
or  of  fire,  or  of  smoke — is  very  distasteful  to  them.  Of 
late  years  the  sea  otters  have  seldom  come  on  shore 
anywhere,  as  the  whole  coast  of  Alaska  has  been  made 
offensive  to  them.  The  single  young  is  born  in  the  kelp, 
and  the  mother  carries  it  around  in  her  arms  like  a 
babe. 

In  the  old  days  the  Indians  killed  the  otters  with 
spears.  When  one  was  discovered  in  the  open  sea,  the 
canoes  closed  upon  it,  and  the  hunters  made  wild  noises 
and  incantations.  To  the  Indian  who  actually  killed  it 
the  prize  was  awarded;  the  others  who  assisted  in 
"  rounding  up  "  the  animal,  getting  nothing.  In  case  of 
several  wounds,  the  hunter  whose  spear  was  nearest  the 
snout  was  regarded  as  the  killer.  This  was  a  device  of 
the  priests  to  lead  the  Indians  to  strike  for  the  head,  so 
as  not  to  tear  the  skin  of  the  body. 

Originally,  the  sea  otter  hunt  was  permitted  to  natives 
only.  By  their  methods  there  were  never  enough  taken 
seriously  to  check  the  increase  of  the  species.  The  Aleut 
who  had  obtained  one  skin  was  generally  satisfied  for  the 
year.  If  he  found  none  after  a  short  hunt,  the  "  sick 
turn-turn  "  or  "  squaw-heart  "  would  lead  him  to  give  up 
the  chase. 

Next  appeared  the  "  squaw-man  "  as  a  factor  in  the 
otter  chase.  The  squaw-man  is  a  white  man  who  marries 
into  a  tribe  to  secure  the  native's  privileges.  These 


COLONIAL  LESSONS   OF  ALASKA.  189 

squaw-men  were  more  persistent  hunters  than  the  natives, 
and  they  brought  about  the  general  use  of  rifles  instead 
of  spears.  A  larger  quantity  of  skins  was  taken  under 
these  conditions,  but  the  numbers  of  sea  otters  were  not 
appreciably  reduced. 

The  success  of  squaw-men  in  this  and  other  enter- 
prises aroused  the  envy  of  white  men  less  favorably 
placed.  A  law  was  passed  by  Congress  depriving  native 
tribes  of  all  privileges  not  shared  by  white  men.  This 
opened  the  sea  otter  hunt  to  all  men,  and  thus  forced 
the  commercial  companies,  against  their  will,  to  enter 
on  a  general  campaign  of  destruction. 

Schooners  were  now  equipped  for  the  sea  otter  hunt, 
each  one  carrying  about  twenty  Indian  canoes,  either 
skin  canoes  or  wooden  dugouts,  with  the  proper  crew. 
Arrived  at  the  Aleutian  sea  otter  grounds,  a  schooner 
would  scatter  the  canoes  so  as  to  cover  about  sixty  square 
miles  of  sea.  It  would  then  come  to  anchor,  and  its 
canoes  would  patrol  the  water,  thus  securing  every  sea 
otter  within  the  distance  covered.  Then  a  station  fur- 
ther on  would  be  taken  and  the  work  continued.  In 
this  way,  in  1895,  1896,  and  1897,  every  foot  of  probable 
sea  otter  ground  was  examined.  At  the  end  of  the  season 
of  1897  only  a  few  hundred  sea  otters  were  left,  most  of 
them  about  the  Sannak  Islands,  while  a  small  number  of 
wanderers  were  scattered  along  remote  coasts.  Of  these, 
two  were  taken  off  Afio  Nuevo  Island,  California,  and 
two  were  seen  at  Point  Sur.  One,  caught  alive  on  land, 
was  allowed  to  escape,  its  captor  not  knowing  its  value. 
One  was  taken  in  1896  on  St.  Paul,  one  of  the  Pribilof 
islands,  and.  one  in  1897  on  St.  George,  another  of  the 
same  group. 


190  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

The  statistics  of  the  sea  otter  catch  have  been  care- 
fully compiled  by  Captain  Calvin  L.  Hooper,  comman- 
der of  the  Bering  Sea  patrol  fleet,  a  man  to  whom 
the  people  of  Alaska  owe  a  lasting  debt  of  gratitude. 
These  show  that  in  the  earliest  years  of  American  occupa- 
tion upwards  of  2,500  skins  were  taken  annually  by  ca- 
noes going  out  from  the  shore,  and  this  without  apparent 
diminution  of  thd  herd.  Later,  with  the  use  of  schooners, 
this  number  was  increased,  reaching  a  maximum  of  4, 15  2 
in  1885.  Although  the  number  of  schooners  continued 
to  increase,  the  total  catch  fell  off  in  1896  to  724,  these 
being  divided  among  more  than  40  schooners,  with  nearly 
800  canoes.  Very  many  of  the  hunters  thus  obtained  no 
skins  at  all. 

At  the  earnest  solicitation  of  Captain  Hooper,  this 
wanton  waste  was  finally  checked  in  1898.  By  an  order 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Mr.  Gage,  all  sea  otter 
hunting,  whether  by  white  men  or  by  natives,  was  limited 
to  the  original  Indian  methods.  In  this  chase,  no  one 
is  now  allowed  "  the  use  of  any  boat  or  vessel  other  than 
the  ordinary  two-hatch  skin-covered  bidarka  or  the  open 
Yakutat  canoe." 

This  simple  regulation  will  prevent  any  further  waste. 
Had  it  been  adopted  two  years  ago,  it  would  have  saved 
$500,000  a  year  to  the  resources  of  Alaska,  besides  per- 
haps the  lives  of  a  thousand  people,  who  must  now  starve 
unless  fed  by  the  government, — a  tardy  paternalism 
which  is  the  first  step  toward  extermination.  The  loss 
of  self-dependence  and  of  self-respect  which  government 
support  entails  is  as  surely  destructive  to  the  race  as 
starvation  itself. 

Our  courts  have  decided  that  the  Aleuts  are  American 


COLONIAL   LESSONS   OF  ALASKA.  19! 

citizens,  their  former  nominal  status  under  Russian  law 
being  retained  after  annexation  by  the  United  States. 
But  citizenship  can  avail  nothing  unless  their  means  of 
support  is  guarded  by  the  government.  They  have  no 
power  to  protect  themselves.  They  can  have  no  repre- 
sentatives in  Congress.  A  delegate  from  Alaska,  even  if 
such  an  official  existed,  would  represent  interests  wholly 
different  from  theirs.  They  cannot  repel  encroachments 
by  force  of  arms,  nor  indeed  have  they  any  clear  idea  of 
the  causes  of  their  misery,  for  they  have  cheerfully  taken 
part  in  their  own  undoing.  In  such  case,  the  only  good 
government  possible  is  an  enlightened  paternalism.  This 
will  be  expensive,  for  otherwise  it  will  be  merely  farcical. 
If  we  are  not  prepared  to  give  such  government  to  our 
dependencies,  we  should  cede  them  to  some  power  that 
is  ready  to  meet  the  demands.  Nothing  can  be  more 
demoralizing  than  the  forms  of  democracy,  when  actual 
self-government  is  impossible. 

In  general,  the  waste  and  confusion  in  Alaska  arise 
from  four  sources, — lack  of  centralization  of  power  and 
authority,  lack  of  scientific  knowledge,  lack  of  personal 
and  public  interest,  and  the  use  of  offices  as  political 
patronage. 

In  the  first  place,  no  single  person  or  bureau  is  re- 
sponsible for  Alaska.  The  Treasury  Department  looks 
after  the  charting  and  the  patrol  of  its  coasts,  the  care 
of  its  animal  life,  the  prohibition  of  intoxicating  liquors, 
and  the  control  of  the  fishing  industries.  The  investi- 
gation of  its  fisheries  and  marine  animals  is  the  duty  of 
the  United  States  Fish  Commission.  The  army  has 
certain  ill-defined  duties,  which  have  been  worked  out 
mainly  in  a  futile  and  needless  relief  expedition,  with  an 


IQ2  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

opera  bouffe  accompaniment  of  dehorned  reindeer. 
The  legal  proceedings,  within  the  territory  are  governed 
by  the  statutes  of  Oregon,  unless  otherwise  ordered. 
The  Department  of  Justice  has  a  few  representatives 
scattered  over  the  vast  territory,  whose  duty  it  is  to  en- 
force these  statutes,  chiefly  through  the  farce  of  jury 
trials.  The  land  in  general  is  under  control  of  the  De- 
partment of  the  Interior.  The  Bureau  of  Education  has 
an  agent  in  charge  of  certain  schools,  while  the  President 
of  the  United  States  finds  his  representative  in  his  ap- 
pointee, the  governor  of  the  territory.  The  office  of 
governor  carries  large  duties  and  small  powers.  There 
are  many  interests  under  the  governor's  supervision,  but 
he  can  do  little  more  than  to  serve  as  a  means  of  com- 
munication between  some  of  them  and  Washington.  It 
is  to  be  remembered  that  Alaska  is  a  great  domain  in 
itself,  and,  considering  means  of  transportation,  Sitka, 
the  capital,  is  much  further  from  Attu  or  Point  Barrow 
than  it  is  from  Washington. 

The  virtual  ruler  of  Alaska  is  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  But  in  his  hands,  however  excellent  his  in- 
tentions, good  government  is  in  large  degree  unattain- 
able for  lack  of  power.  Important  matters  must  await 
the  decision  of  Congress.  The  wisest  plans  fail  for  want 
of  force  to  carry  them  out.  The  right  man  to  go  on 
difficult  errands  is  not  at  hand,  or,  if  he  is,  there  is  no 
means  to  send  him.  In  the  division  of  labor  which  is 
necessary  in  great  departments  of  government,  the  affairs 
of  Alaska,  with  those  of  the  customs  service  elsewhere, 
are  assigned  to  one  of  the  assistant  secretaries.  Of  his 
duties  Alaskan  affairs  form  but  a  very  small  part,  and  this 
part  is  often  assigned  to  one  of  the  subordinate  clerks. 


COLONIAL   LESSONS   OF   ALASKA.  193 

One  of  the  assistant  secretaries,  Mr.  Charles  Sumner 
Hamlin,  visited  Alaska  in  1894,  in  order  to  secure  a 
clear  idea  of  his  duties.  This  visit  was  a  matter  of  great 
moment  to  the  territory,  for  the  knowledge  thus  obtained 
brought  wisdom  out  of  confusion,  and  gave  promise  of 
better  management  in  the  future. 

To  this  division  of  responsibility  and  confusion  of 
authority,  with  the  consequent  paralysis  of  effort,  must 
be  added  the  lack  of  trustworthy  information  at  Wash- 
ington. Some  most  admirable  scientific  work  has  been 
done  in  Alaska  under  the  auspices  of  the  national  gov- 
ernment, notably  by  the  United  States  Coast  Survey,  the 
United  States  Fish  Commission,  and  the  United  States 
Revenue  Service.  But  professional  lobbyists  often 
have  posed  as  authorities  in  Alaskan  affairs.  Other 
witnesses  have  been  intent  on  personal  or  corporation 
interests,  while  still  another  class  has  drawn  the  long-bow 
on  general  principles.  Such  testimony  has  tended  to 
confuse  the  minds  of  officials,  who  have  come  to  regard 
Alaska  chiefly  as  a  departmental  bugbear. 

Important  as  the  fur  seal  question  has  become,  its 
subject  matter  received  no  adequate  scientific  investiga- 
tion until  1896  and  1897.  Vast  as  are  the  salmon  in- 
terests, such  investigation  on  lines  broad  enough  to  yield 
useful  results  is  yet  to  be  made.  The  sole  good  work  on 
the  sea  otter  is  that  of  a  revenue  officer  whose  time  was 
fully  occupied  by  affairs  of  a  very  different  kind. 

Thus  it  has  come  to  pass  that  Alaskan  interests  have 
suffered  alike  from  official  credulity  and  official  skep- 
ticism. Matters  of  real  importance  have  been  shelved, 
in  the  fear  that  in  some  way  or  other  the  great  commer- 
cial companies  would  profit  by  them.  At  other  times 


TJNP 
" 


194  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

the  word  of  these  same  corporations  has  been  law,  when 
the  department  might  well  have  asserted  its  independ- 
ence. The  interest  of  these  corporations  is  in  general 
that  of  the  government,  because  they  cannot  wish  to 
destroy  the  basis  of  their  own  prosperity.  To  protect 
them  in  their  rights  is  to  prevent  their  encroachments. 
These  facts  have  been  often  obscured  by  the  attacks  of 
lobbyists  and  blackmailers.  On  the  other  hand,  in  minor 
matters  the  interests  of  the  government  and  the  com- 
panies may  be  in  opposition,  and  this  fact  has  been  often 
obscured  by  prejudiced  testimony. 

Another  source  of  difficulty  is  the  lack  of  interest  in 
distant  affairs  which  have  no  relation  to  personal  or 
partisan  politics.  The  most  vital  legislation  in  regard 
to  Alaska  may  fail  of  passage,  because  no  Congressman 
concerns  himself  in  it.  Alaska  has  no  vote  in  any  con- 
vention or  election,  no  delegate  to  be  placated,  and  can 
give  no  assistance  in  legislative  log-rolling.  In  a  large 
degree,  our  legislation  at  Washington  is  a  scramble  for  the 
division  of  public  funds  among  the  different  congressional 
districts.  In  this  Alaska  has  no  part.  She  is  not  a 
district  rilled  with  eager  constituents  who  clamor  for  new 
postoffices,  custom-offices,  or  improved  channels  and 
harbors.  She  is  only  a  colony,  or  rather  a  chain  of  little 
colonies ;  and  a  colony,  to  Americans  as  to  Spaniards, 
has  been  in  this  case  merely  a  means  of  revenue,  a  region 
to  be  exploited. 

Finally,  the  demands  of  the  spoils  system  have  often 
sent  unfit  men  to  Alaska.  The  duties  of  these  officials 
are  delicate  and  difficult,  requiring  special  knowledge  as 
well  as  physical  endurance.  Considerable  experience  in 
the  north,  also,  is  necessary  for  success.  When  positions 


COLONIAL   LESSONS   OF  ALASKA.  195 

of  this  kind  are  given  as  rewards  for  partisan  service,  the 
men  receiving  them  feel  themselves  underpaid.  The 
political  "  war-horse,"  who  has  borne  the  brunt  of  the 
fray  in  some  great  convention,  feels  himself  "  shelved  " 
if  sent  to  the  north  to  hunt  for  salmon-traps,  or  to  look 
after  the  interests  of  half-civilized  people,  most  of  whom 
cannot  speak  a  word  of  English.  A  few  *  of  these  men 
have  been  utterly  unworthy,  intemperate  and  immoral , 
and  occasionally  one,  in  his  stay  in  Alaska,  earns  that 
"  perfect  right  to  be  hung  "  which  John  Brown  assigned 
to  the  "border  ruffian."  On  the  other  hand,  a  goodly 
number  of  these  political  appointees,  in  American  fashion, 
have  made  the  best  of  circumstances,  and  by  dint  of 
native  sense  and  energy  have  made  good  their  lack  of 
special  training.  The  extension  of  the  classified  civil 
service  has  raised  the  grade  of  these  as  of  other  govern- 
mental appointments.  The  principles  of  civil  service 
reform  are  in  the  highest  degree  vital  in  the  management 
of  colonies. 

As  an  illustration  of  official  ineffectiveness  in  Alaska,  I 
may  take  the  control  of  the  salmon  rivers  by  means  of 
a  body  of  "  inspectors."  In  a  joint  letter  to  the  Assist- 
ant Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  1897,  Captain  Hooper 
and  I  used  the  following  language  : — 

"  At  present  this  work  is  virtually  ineffective  for  the 
following  reasons  :  The  appointees  in  general  have  been 
men  who  know  little  or  nothing  of  the  problems  involved, 
which  demand  expert  knowledge  of  salmon,  their  kinds 
and  habits,  the  methods  of  fishing,  and  the  conditions 

*  According  to  Governor  Brady,  himself  a  competent  and  honest 
man,  eleven  per  cent,  of  the  government  officers  in  Alaska  are 
now  under  indictment  for  official  malfeasance. 


196  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

and  peculiarities  of  Alaska.  For  effective  work,  special 
knowledge  is  requisite,  as  well  as  general  intelligence 
and  integrity.  These  men  are  largely  dependent  upon 
the  courtesy  of  the  packing  companies  for  their  knowledge 
of  the  salmon,  for  their  knowledge  of  fishing  methods,  for 
all  transportation  and  sustenance  (except  in  southeastern 
Alaska),  and  for  all  assistance  in  enforcing  the  law.  The 
inspectors  cannot  go  from  place  to  place  at  need,  and  so 
spend  much  of  their  time  in  enforced  inaction.  They 
have  no  authority  to  remove  obstructions  or  to  enforce 
the  law  in  case  of  its  violation.  For  this  reason,  their 
recommendations  largely  pass  unheeded. 

"To  remedy  these  conditions,  provision  should  be 
made  for  the  appointment  only  of  men  of  scientific  or 
practical  training,  thoroughly  familiar  with  fishes  or 
fishery  methods,  or  both,  and  capable  of  finding  out  the 
truth  in  any  matter  requiring  investigation.  For  such 
purposes,  expert  service  is  as  necessary  as  it  would  be  in 
bank  inspection  or  in  any  similar  specialized  work. 
The  department  should  provide  suitable  transportation 
facilities  for  its  inspectors.  It  should  be  possible  for 
them  to  visit  at  will  any  of  the  canneries  or  salmon 
rivers  under  their  charge.  They  should  be  provided 
with  means  to  pay  for  expenses  of  travel  and  sustenance, 
and  should  receive  no  financial  courtesies  from  the  pack- 
ing companies,  or  be  dependent  upon  them  for  assist- 
ance in  carrying  on  their  work.  The  inspectors  should 
be  instructed  to  remove  and  destroy  all  obstructions 
found  in  the  rivers  in  violation  of  law.  They  should 
have  large  powers  of  action  and  discretion,  and  they 
should  have  at  hand  such  means  as  is  necessary  to  carry 
out  their  purposes." 


COLONIAL   LESSONS   OF  ALASKA.  197 

Under  present  conditions,  the  newly  appointed  inspec- 
tor, knowing  nothing  of  Alaska,  and  still  less  of  the  sal- 
mon industry,  is  landed  at  some  cannery  by  a  revenue 
cutter.  He  becomes  the  guest  of  the  superintendent  of 
the  cannery,  who  treats  him  with  politeness,  and  meets 
his  ignorance  with  ready  information.  All  his  move- 
ments are  dependent  upon  the  courtesy  of  the  canners. 
He  has  no  boat  of  his  own,  no  force  of  assistants,  no 
power  to  do  anything.  He  cannot  walk  from  place  to 
place  in  the  tall,  wet  rye-grass,  and  he  cannot  even  cross 
the  river  without  a  borrowed  boat.  All  his  knowledge 
of  the  business  comes  from  the  superintendent.  If  he 
discovers  infraction  of  law,  it  is  because  he  is  allowed  to 
do  so,  and  he  receives  a  valid  excuse  for  it.  It  is  only 
by  the  consent  of  the  law-breaker  that  the  infraction  can 
be  punished.  The  law-breaker  is  usually  courteous 
enough  in  this  regard ;  for  his  own  interests  would  be 
subserved  by  the  general  enforcement  of  reasonable  laws. 
The  most  frequent  violation  of  law  is  the  building  of  a 
dam  across  the  salmon  river  just  above  the  neutral  tide 
water  where  the  fish  gather  as  if  to  play,  before  ascend- 
ing the  stream  to  spawn.  Such  a  dam,  if  permanent, 
prevents  any  fish  from  running,  and  thus  shuts  off  all 
future  increase.  Meanwhile,  by  means  of  nets,  all  the 
waiting  fish  can  be  captured.  This  is  forbidden  by  law, 
which  restricts  the  use  of  nets  to  the  sea  beaches.  Yet 
dams  exist  to-day  in  almost  every  salmon  river  in  Alaska ; 
even  in  those  of  that  most  rigidly  law-abiding  of  com- 
munities, New  Metlakahtla,  on  Annette  Island.  The 
lawlessness  of  the  few  forces  lawlessness  on  all. 

All  that  the  inspector  can  do  in  the  name  of  the  gov- 
ernment is  to  order  the  destruction  of  an  unlawful  dam. 


198  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

He  has  no  power  to  destroy  it ;  and  if  he  had,  he  must 
borrow  a  boat  from  the  company  and  do  it  himself. 
Then,  in  the  evening,  as  he  sits  at  the  dinner  table,  the 
guest  of  the  offending  superintendent,  he  can  tell  the 
tale  of  his  exploits. 

The  general  relation  of  the  salmon  interests  to  law 
deserves  a  moment's  notice.  Most  of  the  streams  of 
southern  and  southwestern  Alaska  are  short  and  broad, 
coming  down  from  mountain  lakes,  swollen  in  summer 
by  melting  snows.  The  common  red  salmon,  which  is 
the  most  abundant  of  the  five  species  of  Alaska,  runs  up 
the  streams  in  thousands  to  spawn  in  the  lakes  in  July 
and  August.  One  of  these  rivers,  the  Karluk,  on  the 
island  of  Kadiak,  is  perhaps  the  finest  salmon  stream  in  the 
world,  having  been  formerly  almost  solidly  full  of  salmon 
in  the  breeding  season.  The  conditions  on  Karluk  River 
may  serve  as  fairly  typical.  A  few  salmon  are  smoked  or 
salted,  but  most  of  them  are  put  up  in  one-pound  tins  or 
cans,  as  usually  seen  in  commerce.  This  work  of  pres- 
ervation is  carried  on  in  large  establishments  called  can- 
neries. One  of  these  factories  was  early  built  at  Karluk, 
on  a  sand-spit  at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  All  Alaska  is  gov- 
ernment land.  The  cannery  companies  are  therefore 
squatters,  practically  without  claim,  without  rights  and 
without  responsibilities.  The  seining-ground  on  this 
sand-spit  of  Karluk  is  doubtless  the  best  fishing-ground  in 
Alaska.  The  law  provided  that  no  fish  should  be  taken  on 
Saturday,  that  no  dams  or  traps  should  be  used,  that  no 
nets  should  be  placed  in  the  river,  and  no  net  set  within 
one  hundred  feet  of  a  net  already  placed.  This  last 
clause  is  the  sole  hold  that  any  cannery  has  on  the  fish- 
ing-ground where  it  is  situated.  Soon  other  factories 


COLONIAL  LESSONS   OF  ALASKA.  199 

were  opened  on  the  beach  at  Karluk  by  other  persons, 
and  each  newcomer  claimed  the  right  to  use  the  seine 
along  the  spit.  This  made  it  necessary  for  the  first  com- 
pany to  run  seines  day  and  night,  in  order  to  hold  the 
ground,  keeping  up  the  work  constantly,  whether  the  fish 
could  be  used  or  not.  At  times  many  fish  so  taken  have 
been  wasted  ;  at  other  times  the  surplus  has  been  shipped 
across  to  the  cannery  of  Chignik,  on  the  mainland. 
Should  the  nets  be  withdrawn  for  an  hour,  some  rival 
would  secure  the  fishing-ground,  and  the  first  company 
would  be  driven  off,  because  they  must  not  approach 
within  a  hundred  feet  of  the  outermost  net.  With  over- 
fishing  of  this  sort  the  product  of  Karluk  River  fell  away 
rapidly.  Some  understanding  was  necessary.  The 
stronger  companies  formed  a  trust,  and  bought  out  or 
"froze  out  "  the  lesser  ones  and  the  canneries  at  Karluk 
fell  into  the  hands  of  a  single  association.  All  but  two  of 
them  were  closed,  that  the  others  might  have  full  work. 
Under  present  conditions,  Alaska  has  more  than  twice  as 
many  canneries  as  can  be  operated.  Some  of  these  were 
perhaps  built  only  to  be  sold  to  competitors,  but  others 
have  entailed  losses  both  on  their  owners  and  on  their 
rivals. 

Meanwhile,  salmon  became  scarce  in  other  rivers,  and 
canners  at  a  distance  began  to  cast  greedy  eyes  on  Karluk. 
In  1897  a  steamer  belonging  to  another  great  "  trust  " 
invaded  Karluk,  claiming  equal  legal  right  in  its  fisheries. 
This  claim  was  resisted  by  the  people  in  possession, — 
legally  by  covering  the  beach  with  nets,  illegally  by 
threats  and  interference.  More  than  once  the  heights 
above  Karluk  have  been  fortified ;  for  to  the  "  north  of 
Fifty- three  "  injunctions  are  laid  with  the  rifle.  On  the 
14 


200  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

other  hand,  "  Scar- Faced  Charley  "  of  Prince  William's 
Sound  and  his  reckless  associates  stood  ready  to  do 
battle  for  their  company.  In  one  of  the  disputes  a 
small  steamer  sailed  over  a  net,  cast  anchor  within  it, 
then  steamed  ahead,  dragged  the  anchor,  and  tore  the 
net  to  pieces.  In  another  case,  a  large  steamer  an- 
chored within  the  fishing-grounds.  The  rival  company 
cast  a  net  around  her,  and  would  have  wrecked  her  on 
the  beach.  The  claim  for  damages  to  the  propeller  from 
the  nets,  with  the  more  important  claim  that  the  fisher- 
men of  the  company  were  prevented  by  armed  force 
from  casting  their  nets,  brought  this  case  into  the  United 
States  courts.  Fear  of  scandal,  and  consequent  injury 
to  the  company's  interests  in  the  east,  is  doubtless  the 
chief  reason  why  these  collisions  do  not  lead  to  open 
warfare.  The  difficulty  in  general  is  not  due  to  the 
lawlessness  of  the  companies,  nor  to  any  desire  to  de- 
stroy the  industry  by  which  they  live.  Our  government 
makes  it  impossible  for  them  to  be  law-abiding.  It 
grants  them  no  rights  and  no  protection,  and  exacts  of 
them  no  duties.  In  short,  it  exercises  toward  them  in 
adequate  degree  none  of  the  normal  functions  of  gov- 
ernment. What  should  be  done  is  plain  enough.  The 
rivers  are  government  property,  and  should  be  leased  on 
equitable  terms  to  the  canning  companies,  who  should 
be  held  to  these  terms  and  at  the  same  time  protected 
in  their  rights.  But  Congress,  which  cannot  attend  to 
two  things  at  once,  is  too  busy  with  other  affairs  to  pay 
attention  to  this.  The  utter  ruin  of  the  salmon  industry 
in  Alaska  is  therefore  a  matter  of  a  short  time.  Fortu- 
nately, however,  unlike  the  sea  otter,  the  salmon  cannot 
be  exterminated,  and  a  few  years  of  salmon-hatching, 


COLONIAL   LESSONS   OF  ALASKA.  2OI 

or  even  of  mere  neglect,  will  bring  the  industry  up 
again. 

It  may  be  urged  that  much  the  same  condition  of  law- 
lessness exists  in  Oregon  at  the  mouth  of  Rogue  River. 
But  the  real  condition  is  very  different.  On  Kadiak  the 
sole  remedy  rests  with  Congress.  The  people  interested 
are  helpless.  But  in  Oregon,  the  remedy  rests  with  the 
people  and  with  them  alone.  If  the  people  of  Curry 
County  or  'of  the  State  of  Oregon  as  a  whole  prefer  law 
and  order,  the  machinery  adequate  to  bring  it  is  in  their 
own  hands. 

Of  the  marine  interests  of  Alaska,  the  catch  of  the 
fur  seal  is  by  far  the  most  important,  and  its  details  are 
best  known  to  the  public.  Whenever  the  fur  seal  ques- 
tion promises  to  lead  to  international  dispute,  the  public 
pricks  up  its  ears ;  but  this  interest  dies  away  when  the 
blood  ceases  to  "boil"  against  England.  The  history 
of  this  industry  is  more  creditable  to  the  United  States 
than  that  of  the  sea  otter  and  the  salmon,  but  it  is  not 
one  to  be  proud  of.  When  the  Pribilof  Islands  came 
into  our  possession,  in  1867,  we  found  the  fur  seal  in- 
dustry already  admirably  managed.  A  company  had 
leased  the  right  to  kill  a  certain  number  of  superfluous 
males  every  year,  under  conditions  which  thoroughly 
protected  the  herd.  This  arrangement  was  continued  by 
us,  and  is  still  in  operation.  If  not  the  best  conceivable 
disposition  of  the  herd,  it  was  the  best  possible  at  the 
time ;  and  to  do  the  best  possible  is  all  that  good  gov- 
ernment demands. 

We  were,  however,  criminally  slow  in  taking  posses- 
sion of  the  islands  after  their  purchase  from  Russia.  In 
1868,  about  250,000  skins  of  young  males  (worth  per- 


202  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

haps  $2,000,000),  the  property  of  the  government,  were 
openly  stolen  by  enterprising  poachers  from  San  Fran- 
cisco. As  only  superfluous  males  were  taken,  this  on- 
slaught caused  no  injury  to  the  herd.  It  was  simply  the 
conversion  to  private  uses  of  so  much  public  property,  or 
just  plain  stealing.  After  1868  the  Pribilof  Islands 
yielded  a  regular  annual  quota  of  100,000  skins  for 
twenty  years,  when  "pelagic  sealing,"  or  the  killing  of 
females  at  sea,  rapidly  cut  down  the  breeding  herd. 
This  suicidal  "  industry  "  originated  in  the  United  States ; 
but  adverse  public  opinion  and  adverse  statutes  finally 
drove  it  from  our  ports,  and  it  was  centered  at  Victoria, 
where,  as  this  is  written,  it  awaits  its  coup  de  grace  from 
the  Quebec  commission  of  1898. 

During  the  continuance  of  this  monstrous  business,* 
the  breeding  herd  of  the  Pribilof  Islands  was  reduced 
from  about  650,000,  females  (in  1868-84)  to  130,000 
(in  1897).  It  is  not  fair  to  charge  the  partial  extinction 
of  this  most  important  of  fur-bearing  animals  to  our  bad 
government  of  Alaska,  inasmuch  as  it  was  accomplished 
by  foreign  hands  against  our  constant  protest.  Yet  in  a 
large  sense  this  was  our  own  fault,  for  the  lack  of  exact 
and  unquestioned  knowledge  has  been  our  most  notable 
weakness  in  dealing  with  Great  Britain  in  this  matter. 
The  failure  to  establish  as  facts  the  ordinary  details  of 
the  life  of  the  fur  seal  caused  the  loss  of  our  case  before 
the  Paris  Tribunal  of  Arbitration.  Guesswork,  however 

*  Monstrous  in  an  economic  sense,  because  grossly  and  need- 
lessly wasteful ;  monstrous  in  a  moral  sense  because  grossly  and 
needlessly  cruel ;  withal  perfectly  legal,  because  not  yet  con- 
demned by  any  international  agreement  in  which  Great  Britain 
has  taken  part. 


COLONIAL  LESSONS   IN   ALASKA.  203 

well  intended,  was  met  by  the  British  with  impudent 
assertion.  British  diplomacy  is  disdainful  of  mere  opin- 
ion, though  it  has  a  certain  respect  for  proved  fact. 
Moreover,  it  was  only  after  a  long  struggle  that  our  own 
people  were  prevented  (in  1898)  from  doing  the  very 
thing  which  was  the  basis  of  our  just  complaint  against 
Great  Britain. 

The  other  interests  of  Alaska  I  need  not  discuss  here 
in  detail.  The  recent  discovery  of  vast  gold  fields  in 
this  region  has  brought  new  problems,  which  Congress 
has  made  little  effort  to  meet.  If  we  may  trust  the  news- 
papers, our  colonial  postal  system  is  absurdly  inade- 
quate, and  the  administration  of  justice  remains  local  or 
casual.  The  Klondike  adventurers  make  their  own  laws 
as  they  go  along,  with  little  responsibility  to  the  central 
government.  Lynch  law  may  be  fairly  good  law  in  a 
region  whence  criminals  can  escape  only  to  starve 
or  to  freeze ;  but  martial  law  is  better,  and  the  best 
available  when  the  methods  of  the  common-law  are  out 
of  the  question. 

The  real  criminals  of  Alaska  have  been  the  "  wild- 
cat "  transportation  companies  which  sprang  up  like 
mushrooms  with  the  rush  for  the  Klondike.  There  are 
three  or  four  well-established  companies  running  steamers 
to  Alaska,  well-built,  well-manned,  and  destined  to  ports 
which  really  exist.  But  besides  the  legitimate  business 
there  has  been  a  great  amount  of  wicked  fraud.  A  very 
large  percentage  of  the  Klondike  adventurers  know 
nothing  of  mining,  nothing  of  Alaska,  little  of  the  sea, 
and  little  of  hardship.  These  people  have  been  gathered 
from  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  sent  through  foggy, 
rock-bound  channels  and  ferocious  seas,  in  vessels  unsea- 


204  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

worthy  and  with  incompetent  pilots,  their  destination 
often  the  foot  of  some  impossible  trail  leading  only  to 
death.  I  notice  in  one  circular  that  a  graded  railroad 
bed  is  shown  on  the  map,  through  the  tremendous  ice- 
filled  gorges  of  Copper  River,  a  wild  stream  of  the 
mountains,  in  which  few  have  found  gold  and  from 
whose  awful  glaciers  few  have  returned  alive.  In  the 
height  of  the  Klondike  season  of  1898,  scarcely  a  day 
passed  without  a  shipwreck  somewhere  along  the  coast, 
— some  vessel  foundering  on  a  rock  of  the  Alaskan  archi- 
pelago or  swamped  in  the  open  sea.  Doubtless  most  of 
the  sufferers  in  these  calamities  had  no  business  in  Alaska. 
Doubtless  they  should  have  known  better  than  to  risk 
life  and  equipment  in  ships  and  with  men  so  grossly  un- 
fit. But  the  public  in  civilized  lands  is  accustomed  to 
trust  something  to  government  inspection.  The  com- 
mon man  has  not  learned  how  ships  may  be  sent  out  to 
be  wrecked  for  the  insurance.  In  established  com- 
munities good  government  would  have  checked  this 
whole  experience  of  fraud ;  but  in  this  case  no  one 
seemed  to  have  power  or  responsibility,  and  the  affair 
was  allowed  to  run  its  own  course.  The  "  wild-cat " 
lines  have  now  mostly  failed,  for  the  extent  of  the  Klon- 
dike traffic  is  far  less  than  was  expected,  and  the  Alaska 
promoter  plies  his  trade  of  obtaining  money  under  false 
pretenses  in  some  other  quarter. 

The  control  of  the  childlike  native  tribes  of  Alaska 
offers  many  anomalies.  As  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
living  in  American  territory,  they  are  entitled  to  the  pro- 
tection of  its  laws;  yet  in  most  parts  of  Alaska  the 
natives  rarely  see  an  officer  of  the  United  States,  and 
know  nothing  of  our  courts  or  procedures.  In  most 


COLONIAL  LESSONS   IN   ALASKA.  20$ 

villages  the  people  choose  their  own  chief,  who  has 
vaguely  defined  but  not  extensive  authority.  A  Greek 
priest  is  furnished  to  them  by  the  established  church 
of  Russia.  He  is  possessed  of  power  in  spiritual  matters, 
and  such  tempora?  authority  as  his  own  character  and 
the  turn  of  events  may  give  him.  The  post  trader,  rep- 
resenting the  Alaska  Commercial  Company,  often  a 
squaw-man  of  some  superior  intelligence,  has  also  large 
powers  of  personal  influence,  which  are  in  general  wisely 
used.  The  fact  that  the  natives  are  nearly  always  in 
debt  to  the  company  *  tends  to  accentuate  the  company's 
authority.  The  control  of  the  Greek  priest  varies  with 
the  character  of  the  man.  Some  of  the  priests  are 
devoted  Christians,  whose  sole  purpose  is  the  good  of  the 
flock.  To  others,  the  flock  exists  merely  to  be  shorn  for  the 
benefit  of  the  church  or  the  priest.  But  there  are  a  few 
whom  to  call  brutes,  if  we  may  believe  common  report, 
would  be  a  needless  slur  on  the  bear  and  the  sea  lion. 

On  the  Pribilof  Islands,  an  anomalous  joint  paternalism 
under  the  direction  of  the  United  States  government  and 
the  lessee  companies  has  existed  since  1868.  The 
lessees  furnish  houses,  coal,  physician,  and  teacher,  be- 
sides caring  for  the  widows  and  orphans.  The  govern- 
ment agent  has  oversight  and  control  of  all  operations 
on  the  islands,  and  is  the  official  superior  of  the  natives, 
having  full  power  in  all  matters  of  government.  This 
arrangement  is  not  ideal,  and  is  in  part  a  result  of  early 
accident.  It  has  worked  fairly  in  practice,  however, 
and  the  natives  of  these  islands  are  relatively  prosperous 
and  intelligent.  The  chief  danger  has  been  in  the 

*  The  credit  system  has  been  almost  wholly  abandoned  recently, 
as  the  future  of  the  sea  otter  leaves  no  hope  of  payment  of  debts. 


2C)6  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

direction  of  pampering.  With  insurance  against  all  ac- 
cidents of  life,  there  is  little  incentive  to  thrift.  Out- 
side of  the  seal-killing  season  (June  and  July)  the  people 
become  insufferably  lazy.  There  are  records  of  occa- 
sional abuses  of  power  in  the  past,* — abuses  of  a  kind  to 
be  prevented  only  by  the  sending  of  men  of  honor  as 
agents.  In  general,  self-interest  leads  the  commercial 
companies  to  send  only  sober  and  decent  men  to  look 
after  their  affairs ;  and  the  government  cannot  afford  to 
do  less,  even  for  Alaska.  Of  this  the  appointing  power 
at  Washington  seems  to  have  a  growing  appreciation. 

Among  the  irregular  methods  of  government  in  Alaska 
we  must  mention  one  of  the  most  remarkable  experi- 
ments in  the  civilization  of  wild  tribes  yet  attempted 
anywhere  in  the  world.j  I  refer  to  the  work  of  William 

*  For  example,  some  ten  or  twelve  years  ago  N.  K.  was  fined 
fifty  dollars  by  the  government  agent  in  charge  of  the  Pribilof 
Islands,  for  "  disturbance  of  the  peace."  His  fault  was  a  too 
vehement  remonstrance  against  the  violation  of  his  young  wife  by 
American  scoundrels  temporarily  employed  on  the  island.  The 
case  was  a  most  flagrant  one,  but  the  weak-minded  agent  felt 
unable  to  cope  with  it.  With  the  plea  that  "  boy  will  be  boys  " 
he  excused  the  culprits,  visiting  the  punishment  on  the  injured 
husband.  The  ill  feeling  resulting  from  this  action  is  still  a 
source  of  embarrassment  on  St.  Paul  Island. 

t  Rev.  William  Duncan,  a  Scottish  clergyman  of  the  Anglican 
communion,  some  thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  entered  the  lands  of 
the  Simsian  Indians,  a  fierce  tribe  of  cannibals  living  on  the 
west  coast  of  British  Columbia,  south  of  the  Alaskan  line.  By 
sheer  force  of  personal  courage  and  with  many  hairbreadth 
escapes,  he  won  the  confidence  of  this  people,  and  proceeded  in 
his  way  to  civilize  and  Christianize  them.  After  a  time,  under  his 
direction,  they  built  the  pretty  village  of  Metlakahtla  and  became 
comfortably  self-supporting. 

The   Church   took  notice  of  his  work  and  sent  out  a  bishop  to 


COLONIAL   LESSONS   IN   ALASKA.  2O/ 

Duncan,  the  pastor  and  director  of  a  colony  of  Simsiau 
Indians  at  New  Metlakahtla.  I  can  only  mention  Dun- 
can's work  in  passing,  but  his  methods  and  results 
deserve  careful  study, — far  more  than  they  have  yet  re- 
ceived. The  single  will  of  this  strong  man  has,  in  thirty 
years,  converted  a  band  of  cannibals  into  a  sober, 
law-abiding,  industrious  community,  living  in  good 
houses,  conducting  a  large  salmon  cannery,  navigating  a 
steamer  built  by  their  own  hands,  and  in  general  prov- 
ing competent  to  take  care  of  themselves  in  civilized 
life. 

direct  it.  The  bishop  insisted  on  the  use  of  wine  at  communion. 
To  this  Mr.  Duncan  strenuously  objected,  as  even  the  taste  of 
intoxicants  had  a  maddening  effect  on  his  people,  who  were  kept 
in  temperance  by  the  most  rigid  prohibition  of  alcoholic  drinks. 
Moreover  the  belated  presence  of  the  bishop  as  a  director  of  work 
already  accomplished  and  beyond  his  power  to  aid,  was  resented 
by  the  followers  of  Mr.  Duncan. 

At  last,  they  arranged  with  the  United  States  Government  for 
the  occupancy  of  Annette  Island,  in  Alaska,  some  fifty  miles 
more  or  less  from  their  former  homes.  Hither  nearly  all  the 
people  migrated,  under  Mr.  Duncan's  leadership,  leaving  the 
bishop  with  the  abandoned  town. 

On  Annette  Island,  a  new  village,  New  Metlakahtla,  was  built, 
together  with  a  small  steamer  and  a  salmon-cannery,  besides  their 
own  church  and  school-house.  It  is  a  village  of  the  most  perfect 
order,  with  its  own  brass-band,  church-choir,  Sunday-school  and 
societies  for  culture.  For  a  long  time  after  their  steamer  was 
built  they  were  not  allowed  to  use  it,  because  not  being  citizens, 
they  could  not  be  licensed  as  pilots,  or  engineers,  and  the  duly 
licensed  pilots  would  not  work  for  Indians.  This  absurd  embargo 
was  raised  by  the  order  of  Assistant  Secretary  Hamlin. 

I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Hamlin  for  a  copy  of  the  following  in- 
scription which  is  placed  over  the  town  house  of  New  Metla- 
kahtla ; 

"  We  leave  the  King  of  the  Beasts  for  he  is  a  deceiver ;  he 


208  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

One  of  the  least  fortunate  acts  of  the  United  States 
Congress  in  regard  to  Alaska  has  been  the  enactment  of 
a  most  rigid  prohibitory  law  as  to  alcoholic  liquors. 
This  is  an  iron-clad  statute  forbidding  the  importation, 
sale,  or  manufacture  of  intoxicants  of  any  sort  in  Alaska. 
The  primary  reason  for  this  act  is  the  desire  to  protect 
the  Indians,  Aleuts,  and  Eskimos  from  a  vice  to  which 
they  are  excessively  prone,  and  which  soon  riflns  them. 
But  a  virtuous  statute  may  be  the  worst  kind  of  law,  as 
was  noted  long  ago  by  Confucius.  This  statute  has  not 
checked  the  flow  of  liquor  in  Alaska,  while  it  has  done 
more  than  any  other  influence  to  subvert  the  respect  for 
law.  Usually,  men  who  "  are  not  in  Alaska  for  their 
health  "  are  hard  drinkers,  and  liquor  they  will  have.  It 
is  shipped  to  Alaska  as  "Florida  water,"  "Jamaica  gin- 
ger," "  bay  rum."  Demijohns  are  placed  in  flour  barrels, 
in  sugar  barrels,  in  any  package  which  will  contain 
them.*  With  all  this  there  is  a  vast  amount  of  outright 
smuggling,  which  the  Treasury  Department  tries  in  vain 
to  check.  All  southeastern  Alaska  is  one  vast  harbor, 
with  thousands  of  densely  wooded  islands,  mostly  unin- 
habited. Cargoes  of  liquors  can  be  safely  hidden  almost 

says  no  one  is  slave  under  his  flag.  So  every  year  he  punishes 
us  without  cause  ;  he  held  up  his  naughty  gun  to  crush  our  vil- 
lage. Now  I  find  my  good  friend,  he  is  King  of  Birds  ;  he  has 
sharp  eyes  to  watch  over  our  village  if  the  enemy  surround  it.  I 
bid  the  Lion  farewell." 

Independence  Day,  August  7,  1887. 

Over  the  inscription  there  is  a  carved  picture  of  a  Lion  and  an 
Eagle. 

*  It  is  said  that  when  the  Umatilla  foundered  off  Port  Town- 
send,  August,  1896,  those  who  took  away  her  cargo  found  in  each 
of  the  sugar  barrels  consigned  to  Alaska  only  a  demijohn  of  whis- 
key, the  sea  having  dissolved  the  sugar. 


COLONIAL   LESSONS   IN   ALASKA.  2OQ 

anywhere,  to  be  removed  piece  by  piece  in  small  boats. 
Many  such  cargoes  have  been  seized  and  ^destioyed ; 
but  the  risk  of  capture  merely  serves  to  raise  the  price 
of  liquor.  Once  on  shore  the  liquor  is  safe  enough. 
Upwards  of  seventy  saloons  are  running  openly  in  Juneau, 
and  perhaps  forty  in  Sitka.  There  are  dives  and  grog- 
geries  wherever  a  demand  exists.  Most  of  the  tippling- 
houses  are  the  lowest  of  their  kind,  because  as  they  are 
outlaws  to  begin  with,  the  ordinary  restraints  of  law  and 
order  have  no  effect  on  them. 

In  1878,  it  is  said,  a  schooner  loaded  with  "Florida 
water "  came  to  the  island  of  St.  Lawrence,  in  Bering 
Sea,  and  the  people  exchanged  all  their  valuables  for 
drink.  The  result  was  that  in  the  winter  following  the 
great  majority  died  of  drunkenness  and  starvation,  and 
in  certain  villages  not  a  person  was  left.  Sometimes 
the  stock  in  trade  of  whisky  smugglers  is  seized  by  the 
Treasury  officials.  But  high  prices  serve  as  a  sort  of 
insurance  against  capture,  and  there  are  ways  of  secur- 
ing a  tip  in  advance  when  raids  are  likely  to  occur.  This 
traffic  demoralizes  all  in  any  way  connected  with  it. 
But  one  conviction  for  illegal  sale  of  liquors  has  ever 
been  obtained  in  Alaska,  so  far  as  I  know ;  and,  I  be- 
lieve, that  this  was  a  test  case  for  the  purpose  of  deter- 
mining the  constitutionality  of  the  law.*  A  jury  trial  in 

*  The  appeal  of  this  case  (Endleman  et  al.  vs.  the  United  States) 
has  proved  a  matter  of  the  greatest  importance  in  relation  to  the 
government  of  American  colonies.  It  was  contended  (according 
to  the  New  York  Evening  Post)  "  that  the  law  on  which  the  pros- 
ecution was  based  was  unconstitutional,  because  the  government 
of  the  United  States  can  exercise  only  those  specific  powers  con- 
ferred upon  it  by  the  Constitution;  that  the  Constitution  guaran- 
tees to  the  citizens  the  right  to  own,  hold,  and  acquire  property, 


210  IMPERIAL    DEMOCRACY. 

any  case  means  an  acquittal,  for  every  jury  is  made  up 
of  law-breakers,  or  of  men  in  sympathy  with  the  law- 
breaking.  This  fact  vitiates  all  other  criminal  procedure 
in  Alaska.  It  should  secure  the  entire  abolition  of  jury 
trials  and  other  forms  of  procedure  adapted  only  to  a 
compact  civilization.* 

i        Whatever  laws  are  made  for  the  control  of  the  liquor 

i    traffic    in   Alaska    should    be    capable    of  enforcement. 

\  They  should  be  supported,  if  need  be,  with  the  full  force 

I  of  the  United  States.     To  impose  upon  a  colony  laws 

i  with  which  the  people  have  no  sympathy,  and  then  to 

Ueave  these  people  to  punish  infraction  for  themselves,  is 

\to  invite  anarchy  and  to  turn  all  law  into  a  farce. 

Whisky  is  the  greatest  curse  of  the  people  of  Alaska, 
— American,  Russian,  and  native.  I  have  not  a  word  to 
say  in  favor  of  its  use,  yet  I  am  convinced  that  unre- 
stricted traffic,  that  any  condition  of  things,  would  be 
better  than  the  present  law,  with  its  failure  in  enforce- 
ment. The  total  absence  of  any  law  would  not  make 

and  makes  no  distinction  as  to  the  character  of  the  property  ;  that 
intoxicating  liquors  are  property,  and  are  subject  to  exchange, 
barter,  and  traffic,  like  any  other  commodity  in  which  a  right  of 
property  exists ;  that  inasmuch  as  the  power  to  regulate  com- 
merce was  committed  to  Congress  to  relieve  it  from  all  restric- 
tions, Congress  cannot  itself  impose  restriction  upon  commerce 
by  prohibiting  the  sale  of  a  particular  commodity  ;  and  that  if 
Congress  has  the  power  to  regulate  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors 
within  the  territories  as  a  police  regulation,  it  can  only  enact  laws 
applicable  to  all  the  territories  alike." 

*  These  facts  were  stated  in  detail  a  few  years  ago  by  a  special 
agent  of  the  United  States  Treasury.  As  a  result,  this  truthful 
witness  was  indicted  by  the  grand  jury  at  Sitka  for  slander, — a 
futile  act,  but  one  which  was  the  source  of  much  annoyance. 

Judge  W.  W.  Morrow,  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  of 


COLONIAL   LESSONS   IN  ALASKA.  211 

matters  much  worse  than  they  are.  In  fact,  the  law 
would  hardly  be  missed.  In  any  case,  Alaska  gets 
along  fairly  well, — much  better  than  any  tropical 
region  would  under  like  conditions.  Cold  disinfects 
in  more  ways  than  one,  and  Alaska  gets  the  benefit 
of  it. 

We  cannot  throw  blame  on  the  officials  at  Washington. 

Appeals  for  California,  declaring  the  decision  of  the  court  upon 
these  claims,  said  : — 

"The  answer  to  these  and  'other  like  objections  urged  in  the 
brief  of  counsel  for  the  defendant  is  found  in  the  now  well- 
established  doctrine  that  the  territories  of  the  United  States  are 
entirely  subject  to  the  legislative  authority  of  Congress.  They 
are  not  organized  under  the  Constitution,  nor  subject  to  its  com- 
plex distribution  of  the  powers  of  government  as  the  organic  law, 
but  are  the  creation  exclusively  of  the  legislative  department,  and 
subject  to  its  supervision  and  control.  The  United  States, 
having  rightfully  acquired  the  territories,  and  being  the  only  gov- 
ernment which  can  impose  laws  upon  them,  have  the  entire  do- 
main and  sovereignty,  national  and  municipal,  federal  and  state. 
Under  this  full  and  comprehensive  authority,  Congress  has  un- 
questionably the  power  to  exclude  intoxicating  liquors  from  any 
or  all  of  its  territories,  or  limit  their  sale  under  such  regulations 
as  it  may  prescribe.  It  may  legislate  in  accordance  with  the 
special  needs  of  each  locality,  and  vary  its  regulations  to  meet  the 
circumstances  of  the  people.  Whether  the  subject  elsewhere 
would  be  a  matter  of  local  police  regulations  or  within  the  state 
control  under  some  other  power,  it  is  immaterial  to  consider ;  in 
a  territory,  all  the  functions  of  government  are  within  the  legisla- 
tive jurisdiction  of  Congress,  and  may  be  exercised  through  a 
local  government  or  directly  by  such  legislation  as  we  have  now 
under  consideration." 

In  other  words,  the  colonies  are  under  the  absolute  control  o 
Congress,  subject  to  no  restrictions  of  any  sort,  and  free  from  the 
operation  of  any  form  of  constitutional  checks  and  balances. 
Only  through  such  freedom  is  colonial  government  under  the 
United  States  possible. 


212  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

They  do  the  best  they  can  under  the  circumstances. 
The  dishonest  men  at  the  capital  are  not  many,  and  most 
of  them  the  people  elect  to  send  there.  The  minor 
officials  in  general  are  conscientious  and  painstaking, 
making  the  best  possible  of  conditions  not  of  their  choos- 
ing. The  primary  difficulty  is  neglect.  We  try  to  throw 
the  burden  of  self-government  on  people  so  situated  that 
self-government  is  impossible. .  We  impose  on  them 
statutes  unfitted  to  their  conditions,  and  then  leave  to 
them  the  enforcement.  Above  all,  what  is  everybody's 
business  is  nobody's,  and  what  happens  in  Alaska  is 
generally  nobody's  business.  No  concentration  of 
power,  no  adequate  legislation,  no  sufficient  appro- 
priation,— on  these  forms  of  neglect  our  failure  chiefly 
rests. 

If  we  have  colonies,  even  one  colony,  there  must  be 
some  sort  of  a  colonial  bureau,  some  concentrated 
power  which  shall  have  exact  knowledge  of  its  people, 
its  needs,  and  its  resources.  The  people  must  be  pro- 
tected, their  needs  met,  and  their  resources  husbanded. 
This  fact  is  well  understood  by  the  authorities  of  Canada. 
While  practically  no  government  exists  in  the  gold  fields 
of  Alaska,  Canada  has  chosen  for  the  Klondike  within 
her  borders  a  competent  man,  thoroughly  familiar  with 
the  region  and  its  needs,  and  has  granted  him  full  power 
of  action.  The  dispatches  say  that  Governor  Ogilvie  has 
entire  charge  through  his  appointees  of  the  departments 
of  timber,  land,  justice,  royalties,  and  finances.  "The 
federal  government  believes  that  one  thoroughly  reliable, 
tried,  and  trusted  representative  of  British  laws  and  jus- 
tice, and  of  Dominion  federal  power,  can  better  guide 
the  destinies  of  this  new  country  than  a  number  of  petty 


COLONIAL   LESSONS   IN   ALASKA.  213 

untried  officials  with  limited  powers,  and  Ogilvie  thinks 
so  himself."  *  • 

Under  the  present  conditions,  when  the  sea  otters  are 
destroyed,  the  fur  seal  herd  exterminated,  the  native 
tribes  starved  to  death,  the  salmon  rivers  depopulated, 
the  timber  cut,  and  the  placer  gold  fields  worked  out, 
Alaska  is  to  be  thrown  away  like  a  sucked  orange. 
There  is  no  other  possible  end,  if  we  continue  as  we 
have  begun.  We  are  "  not  in  Alaska  for  our  health," 
and  when  we  can  no  longer  exploit  it  we  may  as  well 
abandon  it. 

But  it  may  be  argued  that  it  will  be  a  very  costly 
thing  to  foster  all  Alaska's  widely  separated  resources, 
and  to  give  good  government  to  every  one  of  her  scat- 
tered villages  and  posts.  Furthermore,  all  this  outlay 
is  repaid  only  by  the  enrichment  of  private  corporations,! 
which,  with  the  exception  of  the  fur  seal  lessees,  pay  no 
tribute  to  the  government. 

Doubtless  this  is  true.  Government  is  a  costly  thing, 
and  its  benefits  are  unequally  distributed.  But  the 
cost  would  be  less  if  we  should  treat  other  resources  as 
we  have  treated  the  fur  seal.  To  lease  the  salmon 
rivers  and  to  protect  the  lessees  in  their  rights  would 
be  to  insure  a  steady  and  large  income  to  the  govern- 
ment, with  greater  profit  to  the  salmon  canneries  than 
comes  with  the  present  confusion  and  industrial  war. 

But  admitting  all  this,  we  should  count  the  cost  before 

*  San  Francisco  Chronicle^  August  15,  1898. 

t  The  interests  of  Alaska,  outside  of  mining,  are  now  largely  in 
the  hands  of  four  great  companies, — the  Alaska  Commercial 
Company,  the  North  American  Commercial  Company,  the  Alaska 
Packers'  Association,  and  the  Pacific  Steamer  Whaling  Company. 


214  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

accepting  "  colonies."  It  is  too  late  to  do  so  when  they 
once  have  .been  annexed.  If  we  cannot  afford  to  watch 
them,  to  care  for  them,  to  give  them  paternal  rule  when 
no  other  is  possible,  we  do  wrong  to  hoist  our  flag  over 
them.  Government  by  the  people  is  the .  ideal. _io__l)_e_ 
reached  in  all  our  possessions,  but  there  are  races  of 
men  now  living  under  our  flag  as  yet  incapable  of  re- 
ceiving the  town  meeting  idea.  A  race  of  children 
must  be  treated  as  children,  a  race  of  brigands  as  brig- 
ands, and  whatever  authority  controls  either  must  have 
behind  it  the  force  of  arms. 

Alaska  has  made  individuals  rich,  though  the  govern- 
ment has  yet  to  get  its  money  back.  But  whether  colo- 
nies pay  or  not,  it  is  essential  to  the  integrity  of  the 
United  States  itself  that  our  control  over  them  should 
not  be  a  source  of  corruption  and  waste.  It  may  be 
that  the  final  loss  of  her  colonies,  mismanaged  for  two 
centuries,  will  mark  the  civil  and  moral  awakening  of 
Spain.  Let  us  hope  that  the  same  event  will  not  mark  a 
civil  and  moral  lapse  in  the  nation  which  receives 
Spain's  bankrupt  assets. 


V. 

THE  LESSONS  OF  THE 
PARIS  TRIBUNAL  OF  ARBITRATION. 


V. 

THE  LESSONS  OF  THE  PARIS 
TRIBUNAL  OF  ARBITRATION.* 

THE  second  administration  of  President  Cleveland  was 
especially  characterized  by  the  effort  to  promote  certain 
governmental  reforms  regarded  by  the  President  and  his 
advisers  as  vitally  important  to  the  welfare  of  the  United 
States. 

Most  notable  among  these  was  the  proposed  treaty  of 
arbitration  with  Great  Britain.  It  was  hoped  that  by 
its  peaceful  operation  all  bitterness  of  feeling  between 
the  two  great  Anglo-Saxon  nations  was  to  be  avoided  in 
the  future.  All  disputed  questions  were  to  be  removed 
from  the  category  of  war  and  diplomacy,  from  the  arbit- 
rament of  force  and  intrigue  to  be  settled  on  a  basis  of 
simple  justice  and  international  law. 

In  spite  of  the  most  strenuous  efforts  of  the  President 
and  the  earnest  advocacy  of  the  able  Secretary  of  State 
the  proposed  treaty  of  arbitration  failed  to  receive  the 
approval  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  That  arbi- 
tration should  rightfully  supersede  war  is  doubtless  the 
almost  universal  opinion  of  intelligent  citizens  of  both 
nations,  but  that  the  treaty  in  question  would  have  this 

*  Published  in  the  Forum,  May,  1899. 

217 


218  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

result  many  of  them  were  led  to  doubt.  Among  the 
arguments  urged  against  the  proposed  treaty  of  1896 
was  the  fact  of  the  failure  of  the  Paris  Tribunal  of  Arbi- 
tration of  1893,  to  secure  justice  or  equity.  Its  decision, 
inconsistent  with  itself,  not  only  failed  to  settle  the  fur 
seal  dispute,  but  brought  it  to  an  acute  phase,  for  which 
no  remedy  was  furnished.  This  condition  of  things  has 
passed  by  without  serious  friction  solely  because  more 
striking  matters  have  cast  it  into  the  shade.  The  inter- 
national good  feeling  which  now  exists  has  no  relation 
to  the  principle  of  arbitration,  and  the  question  at  issue 
in  1893  is  still  unsettled. 

Setting  aside  minor  claims  and  side  issues,  the  Paris 
Tribunal  rendered  its  decision  in  favor  of  the  "  protec- 
tion and  preservation  "  of  the  fur  seal  in  the  waters  of 
the  North  Pacific  and  Bering  Sea.  To  insure  this  "  pro- 
tection and  preservation  "  the  same  tribunal  prescribed 
regulations,  having,  by  the  consent  of  the  nations  con- 
cerned, the  validity  of  international  law.  These  regula- 
tions have  in  three  years  achieved  the  commercial  de- 
struction of  the  valuable  animal  they  were  intended  to 
protect  and  preserve.  In  a  few  years  more,  unless  re- 
scinded by  international  agreement,  they  must  accom- 
plish its  actual  biological  extinction.  If  these  regula- 
tions had  been  designed  to  promote  destruction  and 
extermination  instead  of  "  protection  and  preservation," 
they  could  hardly  have  been  more  effective  to  that  end. 
It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  high  Tribunal  of  inter- 
national arbitration  so  stultified  itself  as  to  do  this  on 
purpose.  The  plain  intention  of  the  Tribunal  was  act- 
ually to  protect  and  preserve,  and  it  failed  in  this  intent 
simply  through  its  neglect  or  inability  to  master  the 


THE   PARIS   TRIBUNAL   OF   ARBITRATION.      2IQ 

facts  in  the  natural  history  of  the  animal  with  which  it 
had  to  deal. 

The  acceptance  of  the  principle  of  arbitration  may 
be  taken  for  granted.  The  practical  details  of  its  appli- 
cation are  more  important  than  the  principle  itself. 
This  fact  has  been  commonly  overlooked  by  the  advo- 
cates of  arbitration.  It  has  been  virtually  assumed 
that  the  principle  would  work  itself.  But  it  is  evident 
that  if  such  a  tribunal  of  arbitration  can  be  deceived  or 
confused  as  to  plain  vital  facts,  its  decision  does  not 
settle  the  question  in  dispute.  If  the  question  is  not 
settled  some  higher  tribunal  is  necessary.  This  can  only 
be  the  force  of  arms  or  the  force  of  public  opinion,  and 
neither  of  these  has  been  found  infallible  in  the  establish- 
ment of  justice.  If  one  nation  or  the  other  is  wronged 
or  betrayed  in  arbitration  the  danger  of  war  is  not  avoided 
by  its  operation. 

The  Paris  Tribunal  of  Arbitration  is,  to  be  sure,  only 
one  of  many  in  which  England  and  the  United  States 
have  been  concerned.  But  it  was  more  important  than 
most  of  the  others,  because  it  had  to  consider  not 
merely  conflicting  claims  for  money-damages,  but  facts 
and  laws  of  science  and  their  bearing  on  new  principles 
of  international  law.  Its  business  was  to  ascertain  facts 
and  to  make  these  the  basis  of  new  precedents  in  action. 
The  question  of  damages  was  merely  incidental  to  the 
main  problem. 

In  this  relation  compulsory  compromise,  the  mere  abate- 
ment of  extreme  claims  on  both  sides,  is  inadequate  and 
ineffective.  If  arbitration  is  to  take  the  place  of  war,  it 
must  be  operative  even  in  cases  where  one  nation  is 
wholly  in  the  right  or  wholly  in  the  wrong  in  some  or  all 


220  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

of  its  contentions.  If  its  final  verdict  is  to  be  sound,  it 
must  be  based  on  accuracy  of  fact,  not  on  a  rough 
average  of  contending  claims. 

It  may  happen  that  with  conflicting  equities  and  con- 
fusing testimony  the  tribunal  will  be  tempted  to  cut  the 
knot  by  arbitrary  compromise.  If  the  sole  question  is 
one  of  damages  more  or  less,  this  solution  is  easy,  for 
obvious  reasons.  But  no  tribunal  can  change  a  law  of 
nature  nor  alter  a  matter  of  fact. 

In  the  interest  of  arbitration  in  the  future  we  may 
examine  in  some  detail  the  operations  of  the  Paris  Tri- 
bunal, that  we  may  discover  the  reasons  of  its  failure, 
and  perchance  make  use  of  the  lessons  it  should 
teach. 

The  case  at  issue  was  at  bottom  a  very  simple  one. 
The  fur  seal  herds  of  the  North  Pacific  breed  on  islands 
situated  in  Bering  Sea  belonging  to  the  United  States 
and  Russia.  On  these  islands  (Pribilof  and  Komandor- 
ski)  they  receive  all  necessary  protection.  The  existence 
of  the  herds  demand  such  protection,  as  well  as  further 
protection,  when  they  are  feeding  or  migrating  in  the  open 
sea  beyond  the  usual  three-mile  limit  of  territorial  juris- 
diction. The  animals  visit  certain  islands  in  the  summer. 
They  breed  on  them,  and  make  them  their  home.  The 
young  remain  there  until  driven  away  by  the  storms  of 
winter.  The  adults  leave  the  islands  in  summer  only  to 
feed,  going  to  a  distance  of  from  100  to  200  miles  for  that 
purpose.  The  winter  is  spent  by  the  entire  herd  in  the 
open  sea,  their  migrations  extending  from  1,000  to  2,500 
miles  to  the  southward  of  their  breeding  resorts.  For 
many  years,  both  under  Russian  and  American  control, 
the  females  have  received  absolute  protection  on  land,  the 


THE   PARIS   TRIBUNAL   OF  ARBITRATION.      221 

killing  for  skins  being  restricted  to  the  herds  of  superfluous 
males.  As  only  about  one  male  in  thirty  is  able  to  main- 
tain himself  on  a  rookery  or  to  rear  a  family,  about 
twenty-nine  out  of  every  thirty  are  necessarily  super- 
fluous. The  survival  of  one  male  in  a  hundred  is  suffi- 
cient for  the  actual  needs  of  propagation.  The  young 
males  on  land  are  as  easily  handled  and  selected  as 
sheep,  and  no  diminution  whatever  to  the  increase  of 
the  herd  has  arisen  from  selective  land-killing.  'The 
number  of  females  in  the  herd  bearing  young  each  year 
was  in  the  earlier  days  about  650,000  on  the  American 
islands  and  perhaps  half  as  many  on  the  Russian.  The 
number  of  males  and  of  young  was  in  each  case  about 
twice  as  many  more.  This  gave  a  total  on  the  American 
or  Pribilof  Islands  each  year  of  about  2,000,000  animals 
of  all  classes,  while  on  the  Russian  islands  or  Komandor- 
ski,  there  were  about  1,000,000.  About  1884,  differ- 
ent persons  known  as  pelagic  sealers,  chiefly  citizens  of 
Canada,  but  some  of  them  from  the  United  States,  began 
to  attack  the  herd  in  Bering  Sea.  Here  no  selective 
killing  was  possible.  The  females  were  always  in  the 
numerical  majority,  as  the  males  had  become  less 
numerous  on  account  of  the  land  killing  and  as  they  left 
the  islands  less  frequently  in  the  summer.  Each  female 
above  two  years  of  age,  when  taken  in  the  sea  died  with 
her  unborn  young.  Most  of  the  adult  females  taken  in 
the  sea  after  July  ist,  had  left  young  seals  or  pups  on  the 
islands,  and  these  orphan  pups  invariably  starved  to 
death. 

Through  the  agency  of  pelagic  sealing  and  for  no  other 
cause,  the  herd  rapidly  declined  in  numbers.  In  1897, 
there  were  about  130,000  breeding  seals  on  theAmeri- 


222  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

ian  islands,  or  about  400,000  of  all  classes.  On  the  Rus- 
sian islands  the  number  of  breeders  was  less  than  65,000. 

For  this  great  reduction  in  numbers  there  was  but  one 
cause,  a  cause  plain,  self-evident  and  undeniable, — the 
slaughter  of  breeding  females  at  a  rate  largely  in  excess 
of  the  rate  of  increase.  While  other  causes  have  been 
assigned  for  diplomatic  purposes  none  of  these  alleged 
explanations  are  worthy  of  the  slightest  consideration  in 
explaining  the  decline. 

It  was  evident  even  in  1893  to  all  capable  of  forming 
an  opinion  that  pelagic  sealing  was  the  sole  known 
cause  of  the  decline  of  the  fur  seal  herds.  It  was  also 
evident  that  as  an  industry  it  must  be  self-destructive, 
since  if  permitted  to  exist  on  any  scale,  which  would 
make  it  profitable,  it  must  destroy  the  herd  on  which  it 
operates. 

It  was  equally  evident,  on  the  other  side,  that  there 
was  no  existing  canon  of  international  law  by  which  it 
could  be  prohibited.  International  law  is  simply  the 
sum  of  the  tacit  consents  and  formal  agreements  of  na- 
tions one  with  another.  There  was  no  other  valuable 
animal  having  habits  similar  to  those  of  the  fur  seal. 
There  could  thus  be  no  adequate  precedent  for  its  pro- 
tection. To  slaughter  animals  fera  naturcz  anywhere 
in  the  open  sea  is  assumed  as  a  right  of  any  citizen 
of  any  nation,  unless  prevented  by  the  statutes  of  that 
nation.  A  "  right "  in  this  sense  has  no  sort  of  sacred- 
ness.  It  is  simply  a  case  in  which  the  affair  is  nobody's 
business  and  therefore  not  forbidden.  The  progress  of 
civilization  and  the  growth  of  international  law  have  been 
marked  by  the  steady  elimination  of  "  rights "  of  this 
kind,  that  is  of  rights  which  are  inimical  to  life  or 


THE   PARIS   TRIBUNAL   OF  ARBITRATION.      223 

property  of  others.  Salus  populi,  suprema  lex,  the  needs 
of  the  people  override  all  statutes,  and  it  is  affirmed  that 
the  needs  of  the  civilized  world  demand  the  preservation 
of  the  world's  most  valuable  beast  of  the  sea. 

In  the  unquestionable  absence  of  international  law 
on  the  subject  it  lay  within  the  province  of  the  Paris 
Tribunal  to  make  new  international  law,  if  the  in- 
terests of  civilization  would  be  aided  thereby.  This 
in  fact,  they  did,  through  their  regulation  of  pelagic 
sealing,  though  in  such  an  ineffective  way  that  their 
action  was  without  value  unless  as  a  legal  precedent. 

The  case  was  complicated  in  the  beginning  by  ad- 
ditional claims  of  the  American  government;  namely, 
(a)  the  right  to  exercise  exclusive  jurisdiction  over  the 
herd  wherever  found,  and  (b)  over  the  sea  in  which  it 
roamed  and  fed,  together  with  (c)  the  right  to  use  force 
in  support  of  such  jurisdiction.  This  right  to  use  force 
it  had  actually  put  into  effect,  by  the  seizure  of  numerous 
vessels,  under  the  British  flag,  found  killing  seals  in  Ber- 
ing Sea.  The  vital  claim  of  the  United  States,  stripped 
of  verbiage  was  that  the  fur  seal  was  of  value  to  civilization, 
that  from  the  nature  and  the  habits  of  the  animal  selec- 
tive killing  of  males  on  land  only  could  be  safely  allowed, 
that  such  condition  had  long  existed  forming  an  estab- 
lished and  valuable  industry,  that  pelagic  killing  was  sure 
to  bring  the  extinction  of  the  herd,  and  that  such  ex- 
tinction was  already  far  advanced.  Hence  the  interests 
of  civilization  demanded  the  abolition  of  pelagic  killing 
and  the  recognition  that  the  ownership  and  the  pro- 
tection of  the  breeding  homes  must  carry  with  it  the 
ownership  and  the  protection  of  the  animals  themselves. 
I  assume  that  the  right  to  protect  the  fur  seal  is  the 


224  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

essential  portion  of  the  American  contention,  because  all 
other  parts  of  the  contention  would  be  useless  without 
it.  They  were  valuable  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of 
strengthening  the  main  case.  They  were  of  little  im- 
portance in  themselves,  but  were  pretentious  in  form  and 
of  such  a  character  as  to  awaken  popular  interest  which 
the  real  matter  at  issue  might  fail  to  excite.  These 
further  contentions  were  in  brief : 

1.  That  Bering  Sea    was  mare    clausum,    a  closed 
sea,  being  entirely  surrounded  by  the  territory  of  Russia 
and  the  United  States,   and  therefore  its  waters  were 
under  the  control  of  these  governments  as  the  waters  of 
a  harbor  are. 

2.  That  in  view  of  such  control,  the  government  of  the 
United  States  was  justified  in  forbidding  pelagic  sealing 
in  these  waters,  in  warning  vessels  not  to  engage  in  it, 
and  in  seizing  those  which  disregarded  such  prohibition 
and  such  warning. 

3.  That  inasmuch  as  the  American  fur  seal  herd  made 
its  home    on  the  Pribilof  Islands,  returning  there  each 
season  to   breed,  and  landing  nowhere  else,  the  herd, 
wherever  found,  belonged  to  the  owners  of  these  islands. 
The   animal  has    then  the    animus   revertendi,  or  pur- 
pose to  return  on  leaving  the  islands,  and  this  purpose 
being   based   on   the    instinct   of  reproduction   is    the 
strongest  impulse  known  in  nature,  either  to  man  or  beast. 

The  British  authorities  practically  denied  all  these 
contentions  and  in  general  all  the  alleged  facts  on 
which  they  seemed  to  rest.  After  much  diplomatic 
correspondence,  lasting  through  nearly  two  years,  it 
was  finally  agreed  to  submit  all  of  these  claims,  and  the 
counter-claims  for  damages  through  the  forcible  interrup- 


THE   PARIS   TRIBUNAL   OF  ARBITRATION.      22$ 

tion  cf  pelagic  sealing,  to  a  high  tribunal  of  arbitration, 
to  meet  in  Paris  in  1893.  The  Tribunal  was  composed 
of  seven  judges,  two  from  Great  Britain,  two  from  the 
United  States  and  one  each  from  France,  Italy  and 
Norway. 

As  to  these  contentions  it  may  be  said, — 

1.  The  vital  claim  to  which  the  others  were  all  subor- 
dinated seems  to  be  true  and  just  beyond  dispute.     The 
protection  and  preservation  of  the  fur  seal  appeals  to  the 
interest  of  civilization. 

2.  The  claim  to  control  and  ownership  of  Bering  Sea 
rests  partly  on  historical  evidence,  partly  on  legal  pre- 
cedent.    It  was  put  forth  as  above  stated  primarily  as  a 
device  to  justify   interference  with   pelagic  sealing.     It 
was  set  aside  by  the  Tribunal,  apparently  with  justice. 

3.  The  seizure  of  the  British  ships  could  be  justified 
only  as  an  act  of  war.     If  we  were  willing  to  fight  in 
defense  of  our  action,  the  act  might  be  justified  by  the 
results  of  war.     To  submit  it  to  arbitration  was  to  confess 
judgment  at  the  start,  leaving  us  no  alternative  but  to 
pay  the  bill. 

4.  The  claim  of  the  actual  ownership  of  the  herd  is 
one  of  natural  justice,  not  of  prescribed  law.     It  could 
become  an  enforceable  claim  only  through   international 
agreement,  or  through  the  action  of  a  tribunal  of  arbitra- 
tion.    Neither   could   be  made    retroactive,    hence  we 
could  have  no  legal  claim  against  Great  Britain  for  dam- 
ages  through    the   wanton   destruction   of   the  fur  seal 
herds. 

It  is  evident  that  in  a  case  of  arbitration  the  final 
verdict  must  vindicate  itself,  otherwise  the  sole  value  of 
this  method  of  settling  disputes  is  lost.  It  is  therefore 


226  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

vitally  important  that  the  arbitration  tribunal  should 
correctly  understand  the  facts  at  issue.  Without  a  clear 
comprehension  of  all  the  relevant  facts,  a  just  decision  is 
impossible.  In  proportion  as  error  exists  in  the  funda- 
mental propositions,  so  must  the  final  result  be  vitiated. 
In  international  affairs,  the  judges  should  be  men  of 
exceptional  integrity  and  of  exceptional  intelligence, 
capable  of  weighing  and  valuing  the  most  varied  forms 
of  evidence.  Perjury,  pettifogging  and  concealment 
would  be  alike  an  insult  to  such  a  court,  and  every 
device  which  experience  has  shown  necessary  in  the 
extraction  of  truth  from  testimony  should  be  in  the  hands 
of  the  tribunal. 

All  this  would  seem  self-evident,  but  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Paris  Tribunal  it  seems  not  to  have  received 
due  thought.  In  considering  the  proceedings  of  this 
court,  the  following  facts  are  apparent : 

It  was  arranged  that  all  testimony  should  be  presented 
in  printed  form.  It  was  arranged  that  all  testimony  as 
to  matter  of  fact  should  be  given  in  ex  parte  affidavits. 
It  was  arranged  that  no  witness  should  be  present  in 
person.  It  was  therefore  impossible  to  cross-question 
any  one  of  the  hundreds  of  deponents,  to  ascertain 
the  range  of  his  experience  or  his  mental  or  moral  fitness 
to  give  testimony.  Neither  the  members  of  the 
American  nor  those  of  the  British  commission  of  inves- 
tigation, who  had  visited  the  fur  seal  islands  in  person, 
and  who  were  supposed  to  have  full  knowledge  of  the 
vital  facts  of  seal  life,  were  brought  before  the  Tribunal. 
The  American  commissioners,  who  should  have  been  the 
very  center  of  the  American  case,  were  not  even  called 
to  Paris. 


THE   PARIS   TRIBUNAL  OF  ARBITRATION.      22/ 

The  omission  of  all  safeguards  against  perjury  seems  to 
indicate  : 

1.  That  one  party  or  both  had  perfect  confidence  in 
the  self-evident  justice  of  its  case  ;  or 

2.  That  one    party  or   both  had  perfect  confidence 
that  the  other  would  not  try  to  manufacture  evidence, 
or  suborn  perjury ;  or 

3.  That  one  party  or  both  intended  to  take  advantage 
of  the  other  to  confuse  the  court  by  the  submission  of 
evidence  that  would  not  bear  cross-questioning ;  or 

4.  That  one  party  or  both,  from  ignorance  of  natural 
history,    failed    to    recognize    the     vital      importance 
of  exact  knowledge  of  the  habits  of  the  animal  in  ques- 
tion. 

It  may  be  observed  in  passing  that  diplomacy  may  be 
as  effective  in  the  organization  of  a  tribunal  of  arbitra- 
tion as  in  any  other  sphere  of  action,  and  as  successful 
in  defeating  justice. 

The  choice  of  two  representatives  from  each  of  the 
contending  nations  implied  that  each  was  to  have  two 
advocates  on  the  bench.  The  unquestioned  eminence 
of  the  four  thus  balanced  against  one  another  would  have 
no  real  weight  in  determining  the  final  results.  This 
left  the  remaining  three  as  the  real  arbiters  and  de- 
stroyed from  the  first  the  character  of  the  court  as  an 
impartial  tribunal  by  dividing  it  against  itself.  As  to 
the  other  judges  it  may  be  said,  that  their  choice  from 
nations  not  in  sympathy  with  the  supposed  imperialistic 
tendencies  of  the  United  States,  shown  by  its  claim  of 
exclusive  jurisdiction  over  a  vast  sea,  may  have  left  the 
burden  of  prejudice  against  the  American  case.  This 
is  merely  an  inference  resting  on  no  knowledge  of  the 


228  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

fact.  A  more  serious  difficulty  arose  from  the  fact  that 
the  knowledge  of  the  English  language  by  two  of  the  three 
judges,  or  the  majority  of  the  sole  final  arbiters,  was  none 
too  perfect.  None  of  the  seven  judges  had  any  knowl- 
edge whatever  of  natural  history,  and  hence  the  volume 
of  testimony  tended  to  confuse  rather  than  enlighten 
them.  Probably  neither  they  nor  many  others  since 
have  ever  read  through,  with  a  view  to  seriously  weigh- 
ing its  value,  the  vast  mass  of  guesswork  and  casual 
opinion  offered  as  testimony.  That  this  is  true  appears 
in  the  fact  that  during  the  sessions  of  the  Tribunal 
various  unofficial  brief  summaries  of  evidence  were 
printed  for  the  use  of  the  court.  These  were  element- 
ary statements  of  the  claims  of  one  side  or  the  other, 
almost  puerile  in  their  simplicity,  and  the  need  for  them 
shows  clearly  that  the  more  elaborate  testimony  was  not 
understood.  Furthermore,  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  the  work  of  the  Tribunal  was  done  in  undue 
haste.  After  the  first  novelty  of  the  situation  was  over 
each  person  concerned  was  anxious  to  make  an  early 
escape  from  the  August  heat  of  Paris,  to  some  cooler 
retreat,  or  more  congenial  duties. 

The  testimony  offered  before   the   Tribunal  we   may 
here  briefly  analyze. 

On  the  side  of  the  United  States  there  was : 
i.  The  report  of  the  American  Commissioners. 
One  of  these  gentlemen  is  a  noted  physicist,  the  other  a 
naturalist  of  high  distinction.  The  two  visited  the 
Pribilof  Islands  in  person,  spending  some  ten  days  in  ex- 
amining the  breeding  rookeries.  They  consulted  fully 
with  different  persons  who  had  enjoyed  large  opportuni- 
ties for  observing  the  herd  year  by  year,  and  the  work  of 


THE   PARIS   TRIBUNAL   OF  ARBITRATION.      22Q 

compilation  of  the  final  report  was  prosecuted  with  the 
exact  methods  of  a  trained  naturalist. 

The  work  of  the  commission  can  hardly  be  called 
a  scientific  investigation,  inasmuch  as  its  stay  on  the 
islands  was  too  short  for  the  critical  examination  of  any 
phase  of  fur  seal  life.  On  the  other  hand  the  report  was 
emphatically  a  work  of  science.  In  its  preparation  the 
commissioners  showed  a  masterly  knowledge  of  the  value 
of  evidence.  All  accessible  sources  of  information  were 
examined.  Not  a  fact  vital  to  the  real  question  at  issue 
was  overlooked,  concealed  or  misstated.  The  elaborate 
later  investigations  of  1896,  and  1897,  under  direction 
of  the  present  writer  have  only  confirmed  the  conclusions 
of  the  earlier  commission.  Additional  facts  of  many 
kinds  have  since  come  to  light  and  more  exact  statistics 
as  to  numbers  have  been  attained,  but  none  of  these  af- 
fect the  main  contention  of  the  American  commission 
of  1891,  that  pelagic  sealing,  and  that  alone,  was  destroy- 
ing the  fur  seal  herd. 

2.  In  addition  to  this  the  case  of  the  United  States 
was  supported  by  a  long  array  of  affidavits.  These  may 
be  divided  into  three  classes  : 

(a)  The  statements  of  trained  observers  who  had  vis- 
ited the  islands  for  one  reason  or  another  and  made 
scientific  observations  of  the  animals. 

(£)  The  statements  of  government  officials  in  Alaska, 
especially  those  of  agents  in  charge  of  the  Pribilof 
Islands.  Some  of  the  testimony  was  of  high  value ;  most 
of  it  consisted  of  the  conjectures  and  impressions  of 
careless  minds,  more  or  less  biased  by  the  desire  to  help 
on  the  American  contention. 

f    The  affidavits  of  the  seal  hunters  of  San  Francisco 


230  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

and  elsewhere.  Most  of  these  statements  were  in  the 
form  of  responses  to  a  set  of  prepared  questions  made 
by  men  ignorant  of  all  matters  outside  of  their  trade  of 
shooting  and  skinning  seals.  Of  the  appearance  of 
the  animal  marked  for  slaughter,  they  were  able  to  speak 
with  some  precision,  but  on  the  larger  questions  of  its 
habits  and  condition,  their  opinions,  however  honestly 
given,  and  however  favorable  to  the  American  contention, 
were  of  little  value.  To  this  there  were  naturally  occa- 
sional exceptions.  One  of  the  whaling  captains  for  ex- 
ample was  a  naturalist  of  exceptional  ability,  the  author 
of  a  valuable  work  on  the  mammals  of  the  sea. 

(d)  Testimony  of  London  furriers,  experts  in  ques- 
tions of  furs  and  skins,  but  only  remotely  acquainted 
with  the  animals  from  which  they  are  taken. 

3.  Besides  these  sources  of  evidence  on  the  main 
question  of  the  decline  of  the  herd,  and  its  cause,  a 
large  amount  of  evidence  for  the  subsidiary  contentions 
was  put  forward. 

This  consisted  of  documents,  maps,  etc. : 

(a)  Historical  testimony  concerning  Russian  claims 
to  ownership  of  Bering  Sea,  and 

(fy  Historical  precedents  as  to  claims  of  jurisdiction 
ever  marine  animals  beyond  the  three-mile  limit. 

In  favor  of  the  British  contention  appears : 

i.  The  report  of  the  British  commissioners,  the  one  a 
geologist  of  repute,  the  other  known  as  a  politician  and 
member  of  Parliament.  These  gentlemen  had  spent  a 
summer  in  Bering  Sea,  about  two  weeks  of  it  on  the 
Pribilof  Islands.  Neither  of  them  were  naturalists  and 
neither  made  any  pretense  of  scientific  investigation. 
Their  report  was  of  the  nature  of  a  lawyer's  brief,  in 


THE   PARIS   TRIBUNAL  OF  ARBITRATION.      231 

favor  of  pelagic  sealing.  It  had  no  scientific  value  or 
validity  whatever,  and  its  effectiveness  lay  chiefly  in  its 
bold  denial  of  many  of  the  well  established  facts  in  the 
natural  history  of  the  fur  seal. 

2.  The  testimony  of  the  pelagic  sealers  in  Victoria. 
Analysis  of  the  many  published  affidavits  show  them  to 
be  virtually  the  work  of  one  person.  Series  of  leading 
questions  are  asked.  These  are  answered  by  the  sealers, 
doubtless  honestly  enough,  but  all  in  such  a  way  as  to 
favor  the  British  contention.  These  men  had  never  vis- 
ited the  Pribilof  Islands  nor  seen  the  animal  in  question 
in  its  haunts.  Most  of  them  could  no  more  testify  as  to 
the  nature  and  habits  of  the  fur  seal  than  could  so  many 
butchers'  apprentices  could  bear  witness  as  to  the  origin 
of  breeds  of  cattle.  Of  matters  within  their  own  obser- 
vation they  were  more  competent  to  speak,  but  here  it 
is  evident  that  their  opinions  were  clouded  by  their  sup- 
posed interests.  This  relation  of  opinion  to  interest  is 
well  understood  by  lawyers,  and  is  the  basis  of  Lord 
Bowen's  epigram,  "  Truth  will  out,  even  in  an  affidavit." 

By  these  affidavits  it  was  sought  to  prove : 

(a)  That  the  number  of  seals  shot  at  sea  and  not 
recovered  was  about  3  per  cent,  (i  to  1 2  per  cent.) 

(£)  That  the  number  of  females  in  the  pelagic  catch 
did  not  usually  exceed  that  of  the  males. 

(c)  That  a  large  percentage  of  these  were  barren. 

(d)  That  the  Russian  and  American  herds  freely  in- 
termingled and  were  indistinguishable. 

(e)  That  not  all  fur  seals  visited  the  islands  in  summer. 

(f)  That  the  fur  seals  were  steadily  increasing  in  num- 
bers under  pelagic  sealing. 

(g)  That  they  mated  in  the  sea  as  well  as  on  land. 

16 


232  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

(h)  That  they  were  not  confined  to  the  known  breed- 
ing islands  but  have  rookeries  on  islands  as  yet  unknown. 

(/)  That  they  resorted  from  time  to  time  to  new  breed- 
ing places. 

(/)  That  the  sexes  could  not  be  distinguished  by  the 
appearance  of  the  skin. 

(£)  That  the  sexes  traveled  together  at  sea. 

(/)  That  it  was  an  easy  thing  to  raid  the  Pribilof 
Islands. 

To  these  statements  all  of  them  partly  false,  and  most 
of  them  wholly  so,  all  of  them  moreover  partly  matters 
of  opinion  to  the  deponents,  we  may  add  three  other 
fictions  useful  to  forward  the  British  contention.  One 
of  these  is  the  assertion  that  orphaned  seal  pups 
feed  on  sea-weeds,  and  are  nourished  by  the  milk  of 
other  mothers  than  their  own.  This  was  a  pure  invention, 
without  a  fact  or  an  analogy  to  back  it. 

More  important  than  this  and  more  damaging  to  the 
American  cause,  because  originally  of  American  origin, 
were  two  other  falsehoods,  unsupported  by  any  facts 
whatever,  but  none  the  less  effective  in  producing  con- 
fusion in  the  minds  of  the  judges.  These  were  (a)  the 
statement  that  the  driving  of  the  males  on  land  destroys 
the  virility  of  those*  turned  back  from  the  killing, 
and  (£)  the  assertion  that  the  number  of  males  had 
been  unduly  reduced  by  land  killing,  leaving  a  supposed 
class  of  "  barren  females,"  that  had  failed  of  impreg- 
nation. 

A  final  and  perhaps  decisive  element  of  importance  in 

*  The  seals  above  or  below  the  "  killable  "  age  of  three  years 
are  mostly  released.  At  three  years  the  skin  is  at  its  best  for 
the  uses  of  the  furrier. 


THE   PARIS  TRIBUNAL  OF  ARBITRATION.      233 

the  British  contention  was  a  piece  of  testimony  secured 
from  Russia  by  some  kind  of  diplomatic  deal.  While 
the  Americans  were  contending  for  the  exclusion 
of  pelagic  sealing  for  a  radius  of  200  miles  from  the 
islands,  or  throughout  Bering  Sea,  Russia  was  induced  to 
accept  a  closed  zone  of  thirty  miles  radius  around  her  fur 
seal  islands.  This  agreement  was  of  course,  not  in  the 
interest  of  the  Russian  fur  seal  herds,  and  it  had  no 
value  as  indicating  the  size  of  the  closed  zone  necessary 
to  give  the  animals  protection  about  the  American  islands. 
But  it  had  value  as  influencing  a  court  already  bewil- 
dered as  to  the  facts.  Its  dramatic  introduction  in  the 
midst  of  a  closing  speech  after  the  counsel  of  both  sides 
had  rested  their  case,  and  when  no  opportunity  of  show- 
ing its  worthlessness  was  left,  was  a  piece  of  sharp 
practise  which  the  dignity  of  the  high  tribunal  of  inter- 
national arbitration  might  have  resented.  The  testi- 
mony was,  to  be  sure,  withdrawn,  on  the  protest  of  the 
opposing  counsel,  but  whether  retained  or  withdrawn,  it 
served  the  same  purpose. 

The  sole  purpose  of  the  British  authorities  in  the  whole 
matter  was  to  win  the  case  for  the  Canadian  sealers,  not 
to  protect  the  herd,  nor  to  secure  justice,  nor  to  estab- 
lish high  precedents  in  international  law. 

3.  On  the  British  side  was  also  produced  a  collection  of 
historical  documents  bearing  on  Bering  Sea,  with  counter- 
evidences  that  the  precedents  claimed  by  the  Americans 
are  not  full  precedents  at  all.  The  pertinence  of  all  of 
this  we  may  freely  admit,  as  the  decision  of  the  Paris 
Tribunal  settled  once  for  all  the  questions  of  interna- 
tional law,  though  it  could  not  change  the  laws  of  nat- 
ural history. 


234  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

The  purpose  of  the  present  paper  is  not  to  reargue 
the  question,  still  less  to  award  blame  or  praise.  I 
wish  solely  to  call  attention  to  the  defective  organization 
of  the  court  as  regards  preparation  for  ascertaining  the 
truth  about  disputed  questions  of  fact.  As  one  of  the 
American  commissioners  has  cleverly  said,  the  verdict  of 
the  Paris  Tribunal  would  have  been  different  had 
there  been  some  one  present  "  who  knew  how  to  laugh  at 
the  right  place."  If  some  one  who  knew  the  real  facts 
of  the  case,  had  had  the  authority  "  to  laugh  at  the  right 
place,"  the  eloquent  pathos  by  which  the  British  counsel 
told  of  the  horrors  of  the  seal-drive  would  have  been 
laughed  out  of  court.  As  no  one  on  either  side 
knew  the  facts  at  first  hand,  its  absurdity  was  not  ap- 
parent. Naturally,  the  eminent  counsel  on  both  sides 
devoted  most  of  their  attention  to  questions  of  law.  But 
the  fundamental  question  was  one  of  fact.  Under  what 
conditions  of  protection  can  these  animals  live  and  prop- 
agate their  kind?  That  the  facts  of  fur  seal  life  were 
not  understood  by  the  Tribunal  accounts  for  the  self- 
contradictory  regulations  laid  down  in  their  final  verdict. 

The  final  decision  of  the  Tribunal  was,  in  brief, — 

1.  Denial  that  the  Bering  Sea  is  mare  clausum. 

2.  Denial  that  the  fur  seal  herds  are  the  property  of 
the  United  States  when  in  the  open  sea. 

3.  Denial  of  the  right  of  seizure  of  sealing  vessels  on 
the  open  sea,  this  decision  requiring  that  vessels  already 
seized  should  be  paid  for. 

4.  Provision  for  the  protection  and  preservation  of  the 
fur  seal  in  the  interests  of  humanity. 

This  last  object  it  was  sought  to  accomplish  through 
a  series  of  regulations,  by  which  pelagic  sealing  was 


THE  PARIS   TRIBUNAL  OF  ARBITRATION.      235 

recognized  as  legal,  but  subjected  to  the  following  re- 
strictions, in  brief : 

1.  No  fur  seals  are  to  be  taken  within  a  closed  zone 
of  60  miles  distance  from  the  Pribilof  Islands. 

2.  No  fur  seals  are  to  be  taken  at  sea  from  May  i  to 
July  31,  inclusive. 

3.  Only  sailing  vessels  with  undecked  boats  or  canoes 
can  be  used  in  sealing. 

4.  Each  sealing  vessel  shall  take  out  a  special  license 
and  shall  fly  a  distinguishing  flag. 

5.  Each  master  of  vessel  engaged  in  fur-seal  fishing 
shall  record  in  his  official  log-book  the  place,  number,  and 
sex  of  fur  seals  captured  each  day. 

6.  The  use  of  nets,  firearms,  and  explosives  in  Bering 
Sea  is  forbidden. 

7.  The  two  Governments  must  see  that  men  engaged 
in  fur-seal  fishing  shall  be  fit  to  handle  the  weapons  used. 

8.  These  regulations  shall  not  apply  to  Indians   of 
either  country  using  undecked  boats  of  the  usual  sort, 
outside  of  Bering  Sea,  and  not  under  contract  for  delivery 
of  skins  to  any  particular  person. 

9.  These  regulations  for  "  the  protection  and  preser- 
vation of  the  fur  seals  "  shall  remain  in  force  until  they 
have  been  in  whole  or  in  part  abolished  or  modified  by 
common   agreement  between  the   United    States    and 
Great  Britain.     The  regulations  are   to   be   submitted 
every  five  years  to  a  new  examination,  and  to  be  modi- 
fied if  experience  shows  the  need  of  change. 

This  award  gave  a  great  stimulus  to  pelagic  sealing,  by 
taking  it  out  of  the  category  of  illicit  adventure  or  piracy. 
On  the  contrary  it  slightly  prolonged  the  process  of  de- 
struction, by  preventing  close  approach  to  the  rookeries 


236  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

and  preventing  slaughter  in  May,  June  and  July  of  the 
American  herd.  These  months  were  used  by  the  sealers 
in  operations  on  the  Russian  herd,  which  by  the  ingen- 
ious stroke  of  diplomacy  already  mentioned  had  been 
deprived  of  the  protection  of  a  close  season. 

The  final  result  has  been,  in  the  language  of  the  Joint 
Commission  of  Fur  Seal  Experts  of  1897,  that  "in  its 
present  condition  the  herd  yields  an  inconsiderable  re- 
turn either  to  the  lessees  of  the  islands  or  to  the  owners 
of  the  pelagic  fleet." 

In  other  words  five  years  of  the  "  protection  and  pres- 
ervation "  under  the  regulations  of  the  Paris  Tribunal  have 
achieved  the  commercial  destruction  of  one  of  the  two 
most  valuable  and  almost  the  sole  remaining  herds  of  this 
most  important  of  marine  mammals.  Its  biological  ex- 
termination cannot  be  far  distant,  if  these  regulations  are 
continued,  for  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  the  costly 
defense  of  the  breeding  islands  will  be  maintained  by  the 
United  States  if  no  corresponding  return  is  possible. 

I  trust  that  it  will  not  seem  unduly  presumptuous  for 
me  to  express  an  opinion  as  to  what  the  verdict  of  the 
Paris  Tribunal  should  legitimately  have  been.  In  my 
judgment  it  should  have  been  declared  : 

1.  That  Bering  Sea  is  not  mare  clausum  *  ;  its  waters 
are  not  the  exclusive  property  of  Russia  and  the  United 
States. 

2.  That  the  ownership  of  the  fur  seal  herds  while  the 
animals  are  in  the  open  sea  cannot  be  recognized  in  ex- 
isting international    law  or   by  existing   precedent,    as 
belonging  to  the  nations  owning  their  breeding  homes. 

*  In  this  and  other  matters  of  purely  international  law,  I  assume 
the  verdict  of  the  tribunal  is  above  question 


THE   PARIS   TRIBUNAL   OF  ARBITRATION.      237 

3.  That  the  United  States  should  therefore  pay  the 
value  of  British  vessels  seized  for  killing  fur  seals  in  the 
open  sea. 

4.  That  the  value  of  these  vessels  and  their  equipment 
should  be  ascertained  by  an  acceptable  jury  of  experts, 
the  question  of  the  degree  to  which,  if  at  all,  contingent  or 
possible  profits  of  future  cruises  should  be  considered  to 
be  determined  by  the  Tribunal  of  Arbitration. 

5.  That  the  "protection  and  preservation  of  the  fur 
seal "  is  a  matter  of  importance  to  the  interests  of  the 
civilized  world. 

6.  That  the  question  of  the  regulations  necessary  to 
this  end  should  be  left  to  a  jury  of  natural  history  ex- 
perts, familiar  with  the   habits  of  marine  mammalia  and 
competent  to  sift  evidence  concerning  them. 

7.  That  in  case  absolute  or  virtual  prohibition  be  found 
necessary  to  this  end,  as  claimed  by  the  American  com- 
mission, such  prohibition  be  ordered  by  the  Tribunal, 
this  order  to  have  the  force  of  international  law,  over  all 
nations  consenting  to  the  decision  of  the  Tribunal. 

8.  In  such  case  Canada  should  yield  the  possession  of 
certain  recognized  rights,    inasmuch   as   prohibition  of 
pelagic  sealing,  with  protection  on  land  and  sea,  is  tanta- 
mount to  ownership  of  the  herd  by  the  United  States. 

9.  The  legitimate  money  value  of  such  rights,  ascer- 
tained by  a  proper  jury  or  tribunal,  the  legal  considera- 
tions governing  which  to  be  determined  and  laid  down 
by  the  high  tribunal  itself,  should  be  paid  by  the  United 
States. 

10.  That  such  decision  should  establish  the  precedent 
for  an  international  game  law,  whereby  all  animals,  feral 
or  domesticated,  crossing  limits  of  territorial  jurisdic- 


238  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

tion  in  food-seeking  or  in  annual  migrations  would  be 
protected  in  the  same  degree  as  if  their  habitat  were 
confined  to  the  territory  of  a  single  nation.  Such  prece- 
dents would  govern  the  mismanaged  fisheries  of  the 
Great  Lakes  of  America,  the  salmon  fisheries  of  the 
Rhine,  the  pearl  beds  of  Ceylon,  as  well  as  the  fur  seal 
and  sea  otter  herds  of  Bering  Sea.  Such  an  interna- 
tional agreement  for  the  protection  of  valuable  animals 
would  be  a  natural  sequence  to  those  agreements  or 
canons  which  have  striven  to  abolish  the  slave-trade, 
which  have  exterminated  piracy  and  checked  privateer- 
ing, which  have  made  foreign  travel  possible,  and  which 
are  humanizing  the  terrible  art  of  war.  "  Salus  populi, 
suprema  lex"  The  ultimate  purpose  of  all  statutes  is 
the  good  of  the  people,  not  of  one  nation  alone,  but  of 
all  the  earth. 

Such  an  ultimate  agreement  is  indeed  foreshadowed  in 
the  regulations  for  "  the  protection  and  preservation  of 
the  fur  seal "  and  in  the  provision  for  the  revision  of 
these  regulations  at  the  end  of  five  years  by  the  nations 
directly  concerned.  This  precedent  may  indeed  prove 
valuable  in  future  efforts  at  arbitration  in  the  interests  of 
humanity.  If  so,  it  is  the  sole  worthy  result  of  the  Paris 
Tribunal  of  Arbitration,  and  its  one  contribution  to 
international  law. 

Such  a  decision  as  that  above  indicated  would  have 
been  consistent  with  itself.  It  would  have  "  protected 
and  preserved  "  the  fur  seal  herd — the  only  important 
matter  at  issue  from  a  financial  standpoint.  It  would 
have  done  full  justice  to  the  rights  of  both  Canada  and 
the  United  States  while  it  would  have  paved  the  way  for 
the  development  of  still  broader  principles.  Such  a 


THE   PARIS   TRIBUNAL  OF  ARBITRATION.      239 

decision  would  have  given  strength  and  dignity  to  the 
plan  of  arbitration. 

This  summary  of  a  vast  and  complicated  case  is  of 
necessity  a  very  brief  one,  too  brief  to  deal  justly  with 
all  its  varied  phases.  We  may,  however,  deduce  from 
it  certain  lessons,  as  to  the  organization  of  similar  tribu- 
nals in  the  future. 

In  case  of  future  international  tribunals  of  arbitration  : 

1.  There  must  be  an  agreement  as    to  all  facts   in 
question  based  on  the  most  thorough  investigations  of 
competent  experts  in  the  subject  in  question,  leaving  to 
the  tribunal  solely   the  decision  of  the  legal  or  interna- 
tional bearings  of  these  facts  with  their  financial  estimate 
if  necessary  ;  or  else, 

2.  We  must  grant  to  such  international  tribunal  every 
safeguard  found  necessary  to  the  highest  courts  of  law, 
including  time  to  mature  its  deliberations  and  investiga- 
tions, power  to   call  for  persons  and   papers   wherever 
situated,  power  to  cross-examine  witnesses,  to  sift  evi- 
dence and  to  punish  perjury  or  diplomacy  or  any  other 
attempt  to  deceive  the  court  as  to  question  of  fact. 

If  the  principle  of  arbitration  is  to  win  the  support  of 
the  two  great  Anglo-Saxon  peoples  its  operations  in  prac- 
tice must  be  worthy  of  their  respect.  It  must  indeed 
be  the  Supreme  Court  of  Christendom.  It  must  be 
composed  of  judges  only,  not  of  warring  advocates,  and 
these  judges  must  be  as  great  in  the  science  of  jurispru- 
dence as  the  generals  they  replace  have  been  great  in  the 
art  of  war.  They  must  never  be  deceived  as  to  fact  or 
law  and  their  verdict  must  be  the  final  word  of  an  en- 
lightened civilization  as  to  the  subject  in  question. 


VI. 
A  CONTINUING  CITY. 


VI. 

A  CONTINUING  CITY.* 

THE  ideal  of  democracy  is  "  government  of  the  people, 
by  the  people  and  for  the  people."  Such  "  a  government 
derives  its  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed." 
More  than  this,  it  is  solely  through  the  intelligent  co-opera- 
tion of  the  governed  that  its  powers  can  be  exercised. 
The  thought  and  force  of  each  man  is  demanded  and 
the  composite  will  of  the  majority,  when  all  is  summed 
up,  is  recognized  as  the  will  of  the  people.  As  to  the 
theory,  all  are  in  accord,  but  the  need  of  operating 
through  representatives  and  civil  servants  complicates 
matters  of  public  administration  and  brings  in  many  new 
problems  in  addition  to  those  arising  from  the  development 
of  democracy. 

For  democracy  brings  with  it  no  guarantee  of  good 
government.  Excellence  of  rule  is  not  even  its  main  pur- 
pose, not  good  government  but  good  people.  There  is 
in  government  a  higher  function  than  economy,  dignity 
and  effectiveness  in  public  management.  These  are 
important  but  they  are  not  all.  The  funotion  of  self- 
government  is  the  making  of  men.  A  republic  is  a  huge 

*  Address  before  the  New  Charter  Club  of  San  Francisco, 
April,  1898. 

243 


244  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

training  school  in  public  affairs  which  will  in  time  bring 
better  men,  and  thus  produce  the  sole  effective  final 
guarantee  of  good  government.  This  is  the  intelligent 
"  consent  of  the  governed."  Such  a  training  school 
demands  experiments  in  bad  government  as  well  as  in 
good.  It  demands  experiments  in  blunders  as  well  as 
in  successes.  It  demands  the  pain  and  humiliation  of 
loss  and  failure  as  well  as  the  pride  of  victory  or  the  joy 
of  gain.  The  surest  way  out  of  folly  is  to  give  full  play 
to  its  demands.  "  If  you  think  that  a  law  is  unjust," 
said  General  Grant,  "  enforce  it :  the  people  will  do  the 
rest."  Each  experiment  must  teach  its  own  lesson. 
The  test  of  fitness  for  self-government  is  found  in  the 
degree  to  which  such  lessons  are  heeded.  In  the  long  run 
men  are  governed  as  well  as  they  deserve.  To  demand 
good  government  is  the  first  essential  in  securing  it. 
"  Eternal  vigilance  "  is  its  price,  and  the  results  of  apathy 
are  found  in  corruption  and  waste. 

In  one  regard  our  fathers  failed  to  see  the  line  of  de- 
velopment of  our  forms  of  government.  In  the  early 
days  the  town-meeting  was  the  safeguard  of  freedom. 
In  New  England  each  citizen  had  a  primary  interest  in 
local  affairs.  The  constant  necessity  for  local  action 
kept  this  interes'  alive.  People  care  permanently  only 
when  they  can  act.  Men  are  indifferent  toward  that 
which  they  cannot  help.  The  town-meeting  was  the 
local  school  in  public  administration.  Its  graduates  were 
sent  on  to  farther  duties,  to  the  legislature  of  the  state 
or  to  the  national  congress.  There  many  of  them  made 
worthy  names  in  the  history  of  the  administration.  In 
the  old  days  "  the  people  sent  their  wisest  men  to  make 
the  laws."  In  their  scattered  villages  with  slow  transpor- 


A  CONTINUING   CITY.  245 

tation  and  few  newspapers,  the  people  had  but  dim  ideas 
of  national  affairs.  They  therefore  attended  to  their  own 
local  affairs  and  gave  their  wisdom  full  play  in  managing 
them.  But  with  all  this  the  people  found  a  fascination  in 
national  questions,  however  vaguely  understood.  What- 
ever they  could  learn  of  them  they  used  to  their  advan- 
tage. The  influence  of  the  town-meeting  worked  its  way 
out  to  the  state. 

This  growing  interest  in  national  matters  was  greatly 
stimulated  by  the  development  of  the  applied  sciences. 
The  postal  service,  the  railway  train,  the  telegraph  and 
the  daily  newspaper  have  destroyed  distances.  What- 
ever of  importance  happens  in  the  civilized  world  is  cor- 
rectly known  in  every  American  household  almost  at  once. 
What  happens  near  home  in  the  town  or  county  is  not 
thus  known.  The  great  events  overshadow  the  lesser. 
Local  matters  are  inaccurately  or  sensationally  reported. 
They  do  not  attract  attention  unless  spiced  with  exaggera- 
tion or  distorted  by  caricature.  Especially  is  this  true  of 
matters  of  administration.  The  great  national  problems, 
finance,  taxation,  colonial  extension  interest  us  all.  The 
fact  that  we  are  powerless  to  deal  with  them  we  lose  sight 
of.  We  have  made  up  our  minds  in  regard  to  them  and 
we  all  watch  eagerly  every  attempt  of  our  representatives 
to  carry  our  ideas  into  action.  Once  in  four  years  all 
manner  of  questions  are  or  seem  to  be  referred  back  to 
the  people,  and  to  each  of  these  public  questions  each 
citizen  is  ready  with  some  sort  of  a  response.  Men  who 
were  never  able  to  pay  their  own  debts  have  very  positive 
ideas  of  national  finance.  Those  who  cannot  keep  their 
own  children  out  of  the  streets  know  exactly  what  should 
be  our  policy  toward  the  "  silent,  sullen  peoples,  half  devil 


246  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

and  half  child,"  who  dwell  in  the  antipodes.  Men  who 
never  had  a  bank  account  are  self-constituted  authorities  as 
to  the  national  banking  system,  in  which  we  are  all  to  be 
partners,  those  with  nothing  to  lose  as  well  as  those  with 
something  to  gain.  We  shout  for  "  principles  "  but  in  the 
original  thought  of  the  fathers  the  common  voter  was 
to  select  wise  men,  who  should  themselves  be  the  judges 
of  principles.  In  the  multiplicity  of  public  officials  we 
have  no  certain  knowledge  of  those  who  ask  our  suffrage. 
Having  no  tests  of  character  we  judge  them  by  their  ex- 
pressed opinions. 

Thus  the  public  attention  is  turned  away  from  the  local 
affairs  which  furnished  the  business  of  the  town-meeting. 
It  has  degenerated  into  the  caucus  and  is  largely  in  con- 
trol of  those  whose  relation  to  government  is  personal  and 
selfish.  The  men  who  manage  local  politics  care  nothing 
for  shadows.  They  have  their  own  end  in  view.  Their 
operations  do  not  interest  us  because  we  cannot  follow 
them  and  we  do  not  understand  them.  They  are  scan- 
tily reported  in  the  newspapers,  and  when  favorable  ac- 
counts of  evil  transactions  are  desired  the  newspapers  will 
furnish  them.  The  partisan  organ  is  always  ready  to  shield 
its  own  rascals  while  it  blackens  impartially  the  fame  of  its 
opponents.  Thus  it  comes  about  that  the  details  of  our 
government  are  worse  managed  as  they  come  nearest  to 
the  people.  The  general  government  absorbs  nearly  all 
of  the  public  attention.  With  all  its  faults,  the  adminis- 
tration of  affairs  at  Washington  is  in  general  better  than 
the  administration  anywhere  else.  It  is  in  the  light  of 
keener  criticism.  It  is  nearer  to  people's  minds  than 
local  administration  is. 

But  it  is  much  farther  from  their  interests.     The  loss 


A  CONTINUING  CITY.  247 

through  local  waste  and  corruption  affects  the  individual 
man  more  than  anything  that  Congress  can  do,  or  leave 
undone.  Say  what  we  may,  exaggerate  as  we  may,  the 
cost  of  the  appreciation  of  gold,  the  waste  of  extravagant 
pensions,  the  loss  through  an  ill-balanced  monetary  sys- 
tem,— none  of  these  nor  all  of  these  equal  the  waste  of 
municipal  corruption.  These  become  disastrous  only  as 
they  are  added  to  the  cost  of  local  profligacy.  The 
injuries  from  defective  sewage,  from  filthy  streets,  from 
badly  managed  and  badly  taught  schools,  from  saloon 
politics,  from  bad  roads,  from  the  cultivation  of  slums, 
from  adulterated  food,  from  poisoned  water,  vastly  out- 
weigh in  importance  to  the  individual  the  great  questions 
of  party  politics  for  which  we  pass  them  by. 

The  complaint  is  made  that  American  political  affairs 
are  "insufferably  parochial"  and  it  is  urged  that  the 
remedy  is  to  be  found  in  a  "  vigorous  foreign  policy  "  of 
which  the  details  shall  command  the  attention  of  the 
people  but  with  which  they  shall  have  no  power  to  meddle. 
But  the  affairs  of  a  democracy  ought  to  be  "  parochial " 
and  the  people  must  have  a  hand  in  every  one  of  them. 
The  more  local  and  provincial  its  details,  the  better  for 
its  administration  and  therefore  the  better  for  the  people. 
A  democracy  is  a  form  of  government  adapted  to  mind- 
ing its  own  business.  That  attention  to  foreign  affairs 
and  large  problems  has  smothered  our  interest  in  paro- 
chial details  of  justice  and  economy,  is  the  chief  cause  of 
our  failure  in  municipal  government.  The  new  destiny 
of  the  United  States  with  its  idle  hopes  of  commercial 
greatness,  keeps  us  from  watching  the  tax  collector  and 
the  deputy  sheriff.  The  town-meeting  was  the  very  es- 
sence of  parochialism.  It  was  the  tap  root  of  our  de- 
17 


248  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

mocracy  and  a  certain  failure  in  the  process  of  govern- 
ment by  the  people  has  resulted  from  its  decline.  In 
large  public  affairs  it  is,  "  principles,  not  men  "  that  first 
concern  us.  In  local  administration  it  should  be  the 
choice  of  men  rather  than  political  principles. 

The  evils  of  bad  local  administration  are  not  peculiar 
to  our  cities.  County  government  almost  everywhere  is 
just  as  ineffective.  The  county  affairs  of  almost  every 
state  are  in  the  hands  of  party  henchmen,  who  build  up 
under  cover  of  local  administration  a  huge  machinery  of 
corruption.  I  make  no  sweeping  charge  against  county 
officers.  These  men  in  general  are  honest  enough,  and 
at  the  worst  they  simply  follow  the  letter  of  the  law. 
Law  and  rightfulness  are  not  the  same  in  this  case.  They 
take  nothing  which  is  not  legally  theirs  to  take.  The 
defect  is  that  of  irresponsible  management.  There  is  no 
head  in  county  affairs  and  no  direct  responsibility  to  the 
people.  No  one  can  be  blamed  if  things  go  wrong  nor  is 
one  rewarded  for  faithful  public  service.  No  one  watches 
the  actions  of  county  boards  save  those  who  gain  by 
wrong  action.  We  have  in  all  local  affairs  avoided  the 
tyranny  of  centralized  power  by  the  substitution  of  the 
worse  tyranny  of  official  irresponsibility.  There  can  be  no 
good  government  without  direct  responsibility  to  some 
power  adequate  to  control ;  to  some  king,  or  governor, 
or  party,  or  the  people. 

In  view  of  all  this  we  deserve  all  the  evil  we  receive, 
as  well  as  all  the  good.  The  government  of  any  com- 
munity in  all  its  grades  is  as  good  as  the  people  are  en- 
titled to  have.  As  we  come  to  earn  a  better  administra- 
tion of  national  affairs,  we  find  that  we  receive  it.  As 
our  interest  in  local  affairs  has  waned  so  have  grown  the 


A  CONTINUING  CITY.  249 

evils  of  local  corruption.  In  a  democracy,  the  govern- 
ment can  be  good  only  as  the  people  demand  good 
government.  We  ask  for  good  government  on  no  other 
terms.  It  may  be  that  bad  forms  of  government  are  re- 
sponsible for  misrule,  rather  than  the  people  themselves. 
Where  this  is  the  case  the  bad  forms  will  be  changed  if 
the  people  deserve  any  better.  And  the  present  general 
movement  for  municipal  reform  shows  that  the  people 
are  becoming  more  alive  to  the  need  of  attention  to 
local  affairs.  If  our  republic  is  to  be  permanent,  if 
America  is  ever  to  have  one  "  continuing  city  "  we  must 
learn  how  to.  live  in  cities  and  in  so  living  to  guard  our 
property  and  our  lives.  As  matters  are  we  protect  neither 
life  nor  property,  and  the  city  is  a  center  of  degeneration 
and  waste. 

Among  the  causes  of  ineffective  local  government  we 
may  name  the  following ; 

The  lack  of  seriousness.  As  a  people  we  have  a  very 
fine  sense  of  humor  and  it  is  exercised  impartially  in  all 
things.  In  our  journals,  corruption  and  inefficiency  ap- 
pear as  a  joke.  A  newspaper  cartoon  tells  us  the  story, 
and  with  this  it  ends.  As  cartoons  are  easily  made  and 
may  be  as  unjust  as  any  other  form  of  criticism,  they  cease 
at  length  to  be  taken  in  evidence  at  all.  An  administra- 
tive crime  has  no  adequate  punishment.  We  do  not  know 
whether  it  has  taken  place  or  not,  and  in  the  hopelessly 
good  nature  of  the  American  people,  whether  it  has  taken 
place  or  not,  it  is  equally  and  speedily  forgiven. 

The  lack  of  permanence  in  our  population  is  the  source 
of  other  evils.  Migration  diverts  attention  from  local 
questions.  A  man  who  moves  from  place  to  place  may 
be  just  as  good  an  American  as  one  who  stays  at  home, 


250  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

— often  a  better, — but  he  is  not  so  good  a  Californian. 
He  is  national  rather  than  parochial  in  his  interests,  and 
he  is  not  so  useful  a  citizen  in  his  relation  to  local  affairs. 

The  spoils  system  in  politics  is  the  greatest  foe  of  de- 
mocracy. In  all  its  forms  and  ramifications,  it  is  fatal 
to  good  government.  There  can  be  no  wise,  economical 
or  dignified  administration  of  public  affairs  when  places 
are  given  in  reward  of  personal  or  partisan  service.  The 
spoils  system  has  been  to  a  great  degree  eradicated  in 
the  minor  branches  of  national  affairs,  but  in  state,  county, 
and  municipal  politics  it  is  almost  everywhere  still  domi- 
nant. It  is  even  growing  worse  in  many  of  our  large 
cities,  because  the  purification  of  national  administra- 
tion has  narrowed  the  sphere  of  its  virulence.  The 
"  pull "  and  the  "  push,"  the  "  combine  "  and  the  "  solid 
dozen  "  control  our  cities,  and  wherever  the  "  boys  " 
are  at  "work"  there  is  waste,  ineffectiveness,  and. cor- 
ruption. 

The  spoils  system  is  in  general  dependent  on  the 
organization  of  the  votes  of  the  unenlightened,  the  in- 
different and  the  discontented.  There  are  many  causes 
for  the  prevalence  of  what  is  known  as  social  discontent. 
Some  of  these  a  wise  administration  could  avoid ;  others 
are  inherent  in  human  nature.  Butthe  political  influence 
of  discontent  is  almost  always  evil.  It  is  opposed  to 
law  and  order.  It  is  opposed  to  hopefulness  and  pa- 
tience. It  is  opposed  to  frugality  and  continuity  of 
purpose. 

The  predatory  poor  and  the  predatory  rich  feed  upon 
and  propagate  each  other.  Two  of  the  most  noxious 
elements  in  our  political  life  are  the  "friend  of  the  poor" 
and  the  tool  of  the  rich.  Both  are  parasites  who  live  by 


A   CONTINUING  CITY.  251 

the  greed  of  those  who  take  what  they  have  not  earned. 
Very  often  the  two  characters  are  united  in  the  same 
person.  The  relation  alters  as  opportunities  develop, 
just  as  the  right  bower  of  hearts  becomes,  as  the  trumps 
change,  the  left  bower  of  diamonds. 

The  hope  of  getting  something  for  nothing  which 
draws  thousands  of  men  to  our  great  cities,  makes  of 
these  same  men  the  worst  of  citizens.  Nothing  worth 
having  ever  goes  for  nothing  except  to  the  thief.  Hence 
arises  great  co-operative  political  associations,  repre- 
sented in  the  councils  of  every  party,  and  whose  sole 
business  is  under  party  names  to  work  the  offices  for  "  all 
they  are  worth."  Their  interest  in  public  affairs  is  to  see 
what  can  be  made  out  of  them.  _  By  the  promise  of  some- 
thing for  nothing  they  hold  together  the  worst  elements 
of  the  community.  Their  work  is  done  in  the  dark,  and 
their  motto  is,  "Addition,  division,  and  silence." 

These  associations  encourage  the  public  interest  in 
national  affairs  to  divert  it  from  local  ones.  They  are 
familiar  with  all  the  catch-words  of  the  day.  But  while 
people  cry  out  for  imperialism,  expansionism,  for  sound 
money,  for  free  trade,  for  free  silver,  for  free  Cuba, — 
whatever  they  please,  the  political  rings  devote  them- 
selves to  the  picking  of  pockets.  They  look  after  the 
matters  of  street  cleaning,  police  service,  railway  fran- 
chises, saloon  licenses,  school  furnishing, — and  so  long  as 
these  profitable  enterprises  are  in  their  hands  they  care 
not  who  has  the  glory  or  who  put  up  or  down  the  figure- 
heads of  authority.  If  in  their  business  they  need  these 
figureheads  they  know  how  to  own  them  without  the 
appearance  of  doing  so. 

Allied  to  the  habit  of  seeking  something  for  nothing  is 


252  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

the  disposition  to  look  to  national  legislation  as  a  relief 
from  personal  discomfort.  The  recent  movement  on 
Washington,  of  the  Coxey  "Commonweal  Army"  of 
idlers  is  a  visible  sign  of  this  disposition.  It  is  not  often 
that  prosperity  waits  on  national  legislation.  National 
blunders  have  evil  consequences,  but  there  is  not  much  to 
be  gained  from  any  positive  action.  In  general  the  most 
that  Congress  can  do  is  to  repair  its  own  past  mistakes. 
The  real  prosperity  of  a  country  comes  from  the  prosper- 
ity of  the  individual  citizen  and  from  that  alone.  If  he 
is  frugal,  industrious  and  sober,  he  will  be  the  type  of  a 
successful  community.  If  each  man  should  solve  or  even 
try  to  solve  his  own  labor  problem,  this  problem  would  dis- 
appear. If  we  were  all  good  citizens  we  would  have  no 
trouble  with  the  management  of  our  cities.  But  we  are  not 
all  good  citizens ;  and  there  are  many  rich  and  many  poor 
whose  interests  are  served  by  bad  administration.  And 
there  are  those  who  are  weak  in  mind  and  weak  in  will, 
who  are  swayed  back  and  forth  by  the  professional  agitator. 
An  agitator,  in  general,  is  one  who  has  nothing  to  lose, 
and  who  finds  his  sustenance  through  the  confusion  of 
others.  Honest  agitators  there  are,  though  such  are  often 
insane,  while  the  worst  of  those  who  foment  discontent 
are  neither  sane  nor  honest. 

The  chief  source  of  failure  in  local  government  is, 
however,  due  to  lack  of  personal  responsibility  in  ad- 
ministration. This  difficulty  is  the  result  of  unwise 
political  forms.  It  is  therefore  a  matter  which  may  be 
readily  detected,  and  which  admits  of  remedy. 

Whenever  any  important  work  is  to  be  done  it  should 
be  done  under  one  authority,  controlled  by  one  will, 
and  working  to  a  definite  end.  In  case  of  good  admin- 


A  CONTINUING   CITY.  253 

istration  the  success  will  be  distinct  and  unquestionable. 
In  case  of  failure  there  should  be  one  person  to  be  held 
responsible.  An  individual  head  is  necessary  to  the 
control  of  an  army,  of  a  ship,  of  a  team  of  horses,  of  a 
railway,  of  a  school.  It  is  equally  necessary  to  a  city* 
Wellington  once  said  that  "  an  army  may  get  along  very 
well  under  a  bad  general ;  it  never  will  succeed  under  a 
debating  society."  This  is  the  vital  principle  in  good 
local  administration.  The  fact  that  in  our  state  consti- 
tutions this  principle  has  been  neglected  is  one  reason 
why  people  have  lost  interest  in  local  affairs.  The 
blame  for  failure  rests  on  so  many  shoulders  that  practi- 
cally no  one  can  be  held  responsible  for  it. 

Municipal  government  is  not  a  branch  of  national 
politics.  A  city  is  a  business  corporation,  with  business 
powers  and  existing  for  business  purposes.  It  must  be 
treated  as  such.  It  is  not  a  confederation  of  states  but 
an  association  of  men.  In  our  local  elections  the  people 
of  the  city  have  to  choose  from  a  long  series  of  names 
selected  in  the  dark  by  those  who  make  such  matters 
their  business.  These  men  are  mostly  unknown  to  the 
individual  citizen.  Those  he  knows  he  rarely  trusts 
and  so  he  favors  a  close  limitation  of  their  authority. 
They  remain  equally  unknown  at  the  close  of  their  term 
of  office,  for  they  have  little  individual  power  or  respon- 
sibility. It  is  impossible  to  know  whether  their  work  is 
well  done  or  ill  done.  In  most  cases  it  is  not  distinctly 
either,  and  in  few  cases  can  good  services  or  bad  serv- 
ices materially  affect  permanence  in  office. 

Political  changes  in  city  affairs  come  from  changes  in 
national  politics.  A  republic  is  governed  by  see-saw,  a  cer- 
tain number  changing  their  party  allegiance  as  one  party 


254  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

or  another  fails,  after  four-years'  trial,  to  satisfy  their 
ideas  or  interest.  The  city  election  goes  with  the  rest. 
For  this  condition  the  first  remedy  is  to  make  munici- 
pal matters  important.  To  separate  municipal  from 
general  elections  is  a  step  in  the  right  direction.  But 
it  is  a  short  step.  To  insure  good  government  the  ex- 
ecutive head  must  be  responsible  for  matters  of  adminis- 
tration. He  must  control  subordinates  if  he  is  held  to 
answer  for  them.  He  must  have  such  freedom  of 
action  that  his  character  may  be  a  matter  of  public  con- 
cern. A  bad  mayor  of  a  city  must  have  power  to  make 
his  badness  felt ;  else  the  .people  will  not  bestir  them- 
selves to  get  a  good  one.  An  unfit  mayor  should  be  a 
distinct  calamity.  But  with  full  responsibility,  really  bad 
administration  would  rarely  come.  A  poor  driver  of  an 
unruly  team  is  better  than  no  driver ;  a  weak  general  is 
better  than  a  debating  society.  A  weak  man  or  a  bad 
man  under  the  public  eye  with  full  responsibility  for  his 
actions  sometimes  becomes  surprisingly  capable.  Re- 
sponsibility brings  caution.  Caution  leads  men  to  seek 
good  advice,  and  to  follow  good  advice  is  not  very  dif- 
ferent from  capability.  But  an  effective  responsibility, 
as  we  shall  see,  can  hardly  be  secured  so  long  as  cities 
are  ruled  under  federal  forms,  with  constitutional  checks 
and  balances,  and  a  fixed  tenure  of  office  for  each 
official. 

The  desire  for  responsible  government  for  cities  is  not, 
as  many  suppose,  a  movement  toward  severity  of  indi- 
vidual restriction.  It  is  not  a  device  of  the  rich  for  the 
oppression  of  the  poor.  It  is  not  a  movement  for  a 
larger  police  force,  or  the  abatement  of  agitators 
or  other  public  nuisances.  It  arises  simply  from 


A  CONTINUING   CITY.  255 

the  need  to  hold  some  one  responsible  for  adminis- 
tration. No  one  can  be  responsible  for  action  be- 
yond the  limits  of  his  power  to  act.  In  the  national  gov- 
ernment this  principle  is  recognized  to  some  extent. 
The  President  chooses  his  own  administrative  officers 
and  acts  through  their  action.  The  governor  of  a  state 
has  no  voice  in  the  choice  of  his  cabinet.  The  county 
has  no  executive  officer  at  all,  and  the  mayor  of  a  city  is 
in  the  main  a  figurehead,  with  sometimes  the  special 
function  of  police  court  judge. 

In  the  English  system  of  government  the  use  of  power 
is  not  limited  by  constitutional  checks  and  balances,  but 
by  the  unwritten  will  of  the  people.  The  Premier  has  un- 
limited power,  but  he  dare  not  use  it,  except  with  the 
approval  of  the  majority  of  the  representatives  of  the 
people.  If  he  use  it  recklessly  his  administration  comes 
to  an  end  and  that  at  once  and  without  warning.  The 
only  check  is  the  disapproval  of  the  party,  and  behind 
the  party,  that  of  the  people.  Hence  in  party  matters 
the  best  men  are  put  forward.  The  party  leader  is  its 
cleverest  mouthpiece,  its  wisest  administrator,  or  at  least 
the  one  whom  his  associates  and  the  people  naturally 
rank  as  such. 

In  the  American  system  are  introduced  a  number  of 
checks  and  balances  as  preventers  of  mischief.  These 
serve  as  antidotes  to  tyranny  but  not  to  corruption  or  folly. 
The  evils  which  our  fathers  feared  were  mainly  those  of 
centralized  power,  the  force  of  arms,  the  pomp  of  im- 
perialism, the  domination  of  the  church,  the  rule  of  the 
aristocracy,  inequality  before  the  law.  These  were  the 
ills  from  which  they  had  fled  in  England.  These  evils 
they  would  forever  keep  away  from  the  shores  of  the 


256  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

new  republic.  They  had  no  experience  in  industrial 
miscalculations  nor  in  financial  blunders.  The  con- 
gestion of  population  in  cities  was  unforeseen  by  them. 
They  knew  nothing  of  the  collective  folly  of  mobs,  the 
enterprise  of  corporations,  nor  the  pertinency  of  those 
who  live  by  sucking  blood  wherever  blood  is  found. 

They  tried  to  prevent  tyranny  by  scattering  power 
among  many  functionaries,  each  one  to  be  a  check  upon 
the  others.  In  one  state  it  was  decreed  that  a  member 
of  the  state  council  should  always  sleep  with  the  governor 
to  prevent  him  from  developing  any  scheme  of  oppres- 
sion. 

Such  an  arrangement  tended  to  prevent  personal 
tyranny  but  it  opened  the  way  to  many  abuses,  and  it  is 
from  such  governmental  methods  that  the  evils  of  the 
"  Ring  system  "  arise.  If  the  governor  were  wicked  he 
might  corrupt  the  councilor.  If  he  were  weak  the 
councilor  might  manipulate  him.  From  such  begin- 
nings came  the  mistake  of  trying  to  prevent  tyranny  by 
weakening  government  rather  than  by  strengthening  re- 
sponsibility. It  was  thought  to  make  officials  harmless 
by  making  them  powerless.  Thus  we  succeeded  in  dis- 
placing individual  tyranny  by  organized  tyranny,  official 
tyranny,  by  unofficial  tyranny.  When  a  thing  has  to  be 
done  there  must  be  the  power  to  do  it.  If  the  official 
is  prevented  by  hampering  forms  of  law,  it  will  be  infor- 
mally and  illegally  done  by  his  political  boss. 

England  has  never  tried  to  prevent  abuse  of  adminis- 
trative authority,  by  weakening  power  or  scattering  re- 
sponsibility. Her  ideal  has  been  not  limited  authority 
but  "conditional  authority."  No  high  efficiency  can 
exist  without  a  wide  range  of  discretion.  Complete  and 


A  CONTINUING  CITY.  257 

immediate  responsibility  is  the  only  condition  necessary 
for  the  safe  exercise  of  power.  "  An  English  prime  min- 
ister can  do  anything, — always  with  this  reservation,  that 
if  he  doesn't  do  the  right  thing  he  may  cease  to  be  prime 
minister  and  that  without  notice." 

The  most  essential  condition  of  successful  government 
is  therefore  singleness  of  purpose.  Treat  the  collective 
interests  of  a  city  as  you  would  those  of  a  great  corpo- 
ration. Make  the  mayor  the  trusted  representative  of 
the  corporation,  to  be  discarded  by  it  if  he  prove  false 
to  his  trust.  This  plan  has  proved  everywhere  successful 
in  Great  Britain.  It  should  succeed  equally  well  in  the 
United  States.  When  this  is  done  there  is  room  for 
great  extension  of  collective  action.  Let  the  city  have 
a  political  see-saw  of  its  own  independent  of  that  arising 
from  national  elections.  Let  the  mayor  be  personally 
responsible  for  the  fitness  and  honesty  of  the  subordinate 
heads  of  departments.  Let  him  hold  each  of  them  in 
turn  responsible  for  those  under  their  direction.  In 
business  places  have  only  those  who  know  their  business. 
Emphasize  men,  not  principles.  Men  are  tangible  and 
can  be  reached ;  party  principles  are  vague  and  decep- 
tive. Let  everything  stand  in  open  light ;  thus  unclean 
men  who  work  in  darkness  only  have  no  interest  in  it. 
In  most  branches  of  the  civil  service  of  cities  technical 
training  is  vitally  important.  The  man  who  knows  how 
to  do  a  thing  is  the  only  one  who  will  do  it  in  the  right 
way. 

The  authority  given  must  be  commensurate  with  the 
service  required.  One  individual  must  be  held  respon- 
sible for  the  whole  of  one  transaction.  A  stage  coach 
on  a  mountain  road  would  not  be  rendered  safer  with 


258  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

four  drivers  one  for  each  horse,  or  one  for  each  of  the 
guiding  reins.  Doubtless  the  coach  might  not  be  driven 
on  the  wrong  road  under  such  conditions,  but  it  would 
stand  a  good  chance  to  be  overturned. 

But  how  shall  the  driver  of  the  coach  be  selected  and 
what  shall  be  the  term  of  his  services  ?  Obviously  those 
who  ride  must  choose  and  he  must  hold  the  reins  only 
so  long  as  he  commands  the  confidence  of  his  passengers. 
Accepting  the  principle  of  the  majority  rule  as  the  only 
principle  practicable  in  public  affairs  the  driver  should 
hold  his  place  as  long  as  his  acts  are  approved  by  the 
majority  of  those  whom  he  serves. 

It  is  plain  that  a  fixed  tenure  of  office  regardless  of 
conduct  is  an  unnatural  and  arbitrary  arrangement.  It 
has  the  advantage  of  stability  of  plan,  but  it  permits  the 
development  of  schemes  adverse  to  the  good  of  the  peo- 
ple. In  the  case  of  the  stage  coach  the  question  of  con- 
fidence can  be  settled  in  a  moment  and  without  for- 
mality. In  the  case  of  a  city  the  method  must  be 
different ;  the  principle  is  not.  In  such  cases  the  people 
cannot  act  as  individuals  in  a  mass-meeting.  Obviously 
they  must  be  represented  in  some  form  of  a  council  or  a 
congress.  That  body  will  be  most  effective  which  most 
perfectly  reflects  the  will  of  the  people  in  all  its  organ- 
izations, tendencies  and  ramifications,  the  stupid  and  the 
evil  as  well  as  the  wise  and  good,  and  each  in  its  degree. 
To  this  end  some  form  of  election  by  proportional  rep- 
resentation is  apparently  necessary.  The  British  system 
recognizes  this  and  its  plan  has  great  claim  on  my  con- 
fidence because  it  has  shown  itself  successful.  Each 
voter  in  the  community  selects  a  certain  number  of  men 
according  to  the  details  of  the  plan  chosen.  He  votes 


A  CONTINUING  CITY.  259 

for  these  as  his  personal  representatives  in  the  city 
council.  Those  men  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes 
are  chosen.  The  larger  the  council  the  more  perfectly 
representative  and  the  less  subject  to  illegitimate  in- 
fluences. The  smaller,  the  more  effective  in  direct  action 
which  is  a  matter  of  minor  importance,  as  the  council 
should  be  a  regulative  rather  than  an  administrative  or 
even  a  legislative  body.  The  council  once  chosen,  selects 
the  mayor,  whose  power  is  limited  chiefly  by  the  coun- 
cil's own  approval.  If  the  mayor  carries  the  council  with 
him  he  can  develop  the  most  elaborate  plans  in  all  details. 
If  the  majority  come  to  distrust  him  his  authority  is  with- 
drawn and  that  on  the  shortest  notice. 

The  majority  of  the  council  are  likely  to  put  forward 
the  best  man  of  the  number  for  the  sake  of  their  own 
prestige.  Carefully  made  minor  appointments  usually 
follow  as  a  matter  of  course.  The  checks  and  balances 
of  charter  and  constitution  are  unnecessary,  for  the 
executive  will  not  often  dare  to  oppose  the  teachings  of 
common  sense.  Elaborate  rules  controlling  the  civil 
service  are  scarcely  necessary  because  the  city  business 
must  be  conducted  on  business  principles,  wherever  full 
personal  responsibility  exists.  Fraud  or  favoritism  would 
destroy  confidence.  The  loss  of  confidence  would  turn 
the  power  over  to  the  minority.  Thus  such  a  plan  re- 
sults in  England.  It  would  work  in  the  same  way  with 
us. 

In  England  this  general  system  holds  in  parliamentary 
matters  as  well  as  in  local  affairs.  The  whole  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  becomes  a  unit  in  matters  of  admin- 
istration, the  empire  being  in  no  sense  a  federation  in  its 
governmental  relations.  The  federal  system  with  its 


260  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

wheels  within  wheels  makes  the  adoption  of  a  similar 
system  at  Washington  a  matter  of  doubtful  expediency. 
In  the  use  of  the  federal  system  for  non-federal  relations 
we  find  the  most  serious  mistake  in  American  local 
government.  The  Union  is  a  federation  of  sovereign 
states,  having  interests  more  or  less  divergent  and  origi- 
nally swayed  by  deep  and  overmastering  jealousies.  The 
checks  and  balances  of  our  constitution  were  intended  in 
large  degree  to  protect  the  individual  state  from  the 
possible  tyranny  of  the  others.  The  separation  of  exec- 
utive, legislative  and  judicial  functions  and  the  establish- 
ment of  the  two  houses  of  Congress  were  all  matters  as- 
sociated with  the  protection  of  states  under  federal 
relations.  Whether  the  need  for  these  safeguards  is  past 
or  whether  the  higher  safeguard  of  party  responsibility 
should  take  their  place,  as  in  England,  or  whether  some 
minor  modification  in  that  direction  would  be  still  better, 
are  questions  I  cannot  discuss  here.  They  are  vitally 
important  but  they  do  not  touch  our  present  problem. 

It  was,  however,  beyond  a  doubt,  a  serious  error  to 
take  the  forms  of  federal  union  as  the  type  of  local 
government.  The  Union  is  a  federation  of  sovereign 
states,  but  the  state  is  not  a  federation  of  sovereign  coun- 
ties. The  county  is  an  artificial  division  of  the  state 
made  for  convenience  of  administration.  The  individual 
county  stands  in  no  danger  from  the  tyranny  of  the  ma- 
jority. In  like  manner  we  cannot  regard  the  county  as 
a  federation  of  townships.  Still  less  is  the  city  a  federa- 
tion of  wards.  Yet  in  our  choice  of  aldermen  it  is 
treated  as  such.  By  a  skilful  arrangement  of  wards  and 
a  suitable  manipulation  of  the  caucus  it  is  possible  to 
partly  disfranchise  the  inhabitants  of  some  of  them. 


A  CONTINUING   CITY.  261 

Thus  the  better  elements  remain  in  large  degree  unre- 
presented in  our  city  councils.  To  destroy  the  tyranny 
of  the  ward  heeler  we  limit  his  authority.  We  make  the 
various  officials  of  the  city  independent  of  one  another 
and  all  of  them  responsible  to  nobody.  They  are  bound 
by  the  iron  provisions  of  the  charter  perhaps,  but  these 
provisions  do  not  enforce  themselves.  To  reduce  power 
used  in  the  daylight  means  its  greater  exercise  in  the 
dark. 

The  system  of  proportional  representation  destroys,  in 
a  large  degree,  the  illegitimate  power  of  cliques  and 
associations.  It  sets  aside  the  false  idea  of  federation 
when  no  federation  exists,  and  it  tends  to  unify  adminis- 
tration and  responsibility  of  the  city  as  a  unit.  The  city 
council  thus  chosen  will  have  good  elements  and  bad 
elements.  It  is  simply  an  epitome  of  the  people  with  an 
emphasis  laid  on  the  greater  intelligence,  for  people 
under  these  conditions  are  less  likely  to  vote  for  men 
they  do  not  know,  or  whom  they  regard  as  incompetent 
or  derelict. 

The  business  of  such  a  council  is  supervision  rather 
than  legislation  and  its  chief  function'  that  of  fusing  the 
public  opinion  into  a  single  indivisible  will.  This  will 
the  mayor  represents  so  long  as  his  course  receives  its 
approval  and  his  will  is  reflected  in  his  subordinates  and 
heads  of  departments. 

Exactly  this  principle  applies  to  the  successful  control 
of  affairs  of  great  corporations.  The  president  of  a 
railroad  has  the  most  extended  powers,  if  he  satisfies  the 
directors,  who  in  turn  represent  the  stockholders.  In 
proportion  as  such  power  and  its  attendant  responsibli- 
ity  are  real  will  be  the  success  of  the  road,  other  matters 


262  IMPERIAL   DEMOCRACY. 

being  of  course  equal.  If  the  president  abuse  his  powers 
it  will  be  when  the  directors  neglect  their  duties.  For 
popular  ignorance  or  indifference,  no  system  can  offer  a 
remedy. 

The  control  of  American  universities  has  been  likewise 
successful  in  the  degree  to  which  it  approaches  this 
model.  The  freer  the  rein  given  the  president,  other 
things  being  equal,  the  more  effective  the  work  of  the 
institution.  But  this  free  rein  must  take  with  it  the 
watchful  confidence  of  boards  of  trustees  or  of  the  alumni, 
or  of  the  public  for  which  the  institution  exists.  The 
majestic  work  of  Dr.  Eliot  at  Harvard  well  exemplifies 
all  this.  With  very  definite,  very  wise  and  very  ad- 
vanced views  of  all  educational  problems,  he  has  taken 
full  rein  in  carrying  them  out.  But  he  has  sought  at  the 
same  time  to  carry  with  him  the  confidence  and  co-oper- 
ation of  graduates,  faculty  and  overseers.  Without  this 
confidence,  freely  given  because  fully  deserved,  Harvard 
University  could  never  have  been  made  what  it  is. 

In  few  branches  of  the  public  service  is  the  spoils  sys- 
tem so  deeply  intrenched  as  in  the  public  schools.  In 
no  other  place  can  it  do  a  tithe  of  the  mischief.  It 
shows  itself  on  the  one  hand  in  the  wanton  selection 
of  incompetents  or  favorites ;  on  the  other,  in  the  provis- 
ion of  life  tenures  for  worthless  persons  its  evil  is  equally 
prominent.  No  teacher  should  be  chosen  save  for  effi- 
ciency, no  teacher  should  be  retained  unless  this  effi- 
ciency continues.  If  appointments  are  on  the  basis  of 
merit  only,  there  is  no  danger  of  wanton  removals,  and 
any  law  protecting  a  teacher  from  dismissal  works  against 
the  interests  of  the  children,  a  party  whose  interests  in 
some  of  our  great  cities  have  been  totally  ignored.  What 


A  CONTINUING  CITY.  263 

with  the  strife  on  account  of  life  tenures  of  teachers 
chosen  by  the  trustees  in  the  past,  and  with  the  desire 
of  present  trustees  to  provide  similarly  for  their  own  in- 
digent relatives,  the  public  schools  of  at  least  one  of  our 
great  cities  are  worse  than  no  schools  at  all.  To  use 
positions  in  the  schools  for  purposes  of  charity  is  to  use 
them  for  corruption.  If  relieved  from  the  great  expenses 
now  incurred  better  schools  would  arise  under  private 
control.  The  remedy  for  this  condition  is  not  to  abol- 
ish public  schools.  It  is  not  the  institution  which  is 
discredited  but  our  management  of  it ;  and  this  through 
our  own  lack  of  interest  and  our  bad  administrative 
methods.  The  former  no  doubt,  is  in  part  an  outgrowth 
from  the  latter.  Our  duty  is  to  repeal  all  statutes  which 
limit  responsibility,  place  the  schools  in  the  hands  of  a 
competent  superintendent  and  adopt  such  forms  as  will 
hold  this  superintendent  to  a  real  and  constant  re- 
sponsibility. 

Our  varied  failures  in  local  administration  are  there- 
fore in  great  part  the  results  of  efforts  to  make  federal 
forms  of  government  do  the  impossible  and  of  our  at- 
tempts to  hold  men  to  responsibility  without  giving 
them  power.  The  affairs  of  no  business  corporation 
could  be  conducted  in  such  a  fashion  without  immediate 
disaster.  If  these  are  necessary  methods  of  "  American- 
ism," they  are  also  methods  of  bankruptcy.  No  city, 
or  county  or  state  can  be  well  governed  that  does  not 
associate  with  exercise  of  authority,  personal  responsi- 
bility for  its  results. 

The  first  need  in  good  government  is  to  enlist  the  serv- 
ices of  men  who  know  what  ought  to  be  done,  and  who 

have  the  will  and  the  virtue  to  do  it.     Such  men  are 
18 


264  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

called  forth  when  the  people  feel  the  need  of  them.  As 
matters  now  are  we  do  not  need  good  men  because  we 
have  no  way  of  using  them.  In  public  office  they  can 
only  watch  and  do  nothing.  This  does  not  suffice  for  a 
man  of  action.  So  he  will  rather  go  on  with  his  own  af- 
fairs which  he  can  control  and  for  which  he  is  actually 
responsible.  Thus  the  public  affairs  fall  into  the  con- 
trol of  co-operative  associations  of  thieves,  for  which  the 
city  furnishes  a  figurehead.  All  constitutional  checks 
and  balances  in  administration  are  of  but  slight  impor- 
tance compared  with  the  personality  of  men.  Let  us 
try  men  in  our  public  affairs,  and  see  if  Americanism  is 
not  strengthened  by  the  change. 


VII. 
THE  CAPTAIN  SLEEPS. 


VII. 
THE  CAPTAIN  SLEEPS.* 

IN  the  Outlook  for  April  22  is  an  editorial  record  of 
the  "  Philippine  history "  which  to  me  is  very  painful 
reading.  Its  narrative  of  alleged  facts  doubtless  repre- 
sents the  record  of  what  the  authorities  of  the  United 
States  wished  to  do,  and  of  what  thousands  of  good  people 
think  has  been  done.  But  it  is  not "  Philippine  history." 
Our  rulers  have  shown  the  most  singular  misconceptions 
of  the  nature  of  the  tropics  and  their  inhabitants,  while 
our  own  people  have  equally  forgotten  the  nature  of  our 
own  government,  its  strength,  its  limitations  and  the 
principles  on  which  it  rests.  As  a  result  we  are  trying 
to  hold  a  large  and  active  population  by  force,  without 
visible  plan  or  purpose,  or  reason  for  so  doing.  In  the 
process  we  find  ourselves  in  the -midst  of  a  war  of  exter- 
mination, one  of  the  most  horrible  in  the  records  of 
civilization.  These  people  fight  for  freedom.  This  we 
understand.  We  fight  for  law  and  order,  so  we  are  told, 
because  without  examination  of  the  facts,  we  assume 
that  the  first  republic  of  Asia  would  be  unable  to  main- 
tain order.  They  fight  for  freedom  because  they  can 
see  with  their  own  eyes  that  the  first  republic  of  America 
urges  on  them  a  military  despotism.  If  we  could  under- 

*  Letter  to  the  editor  of  the  Outlook,  April  26,  1899. 

267 


268  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

stand  each  other  better,  we  should  each  know  that  the 
real  purposes  of  the  other  are  more  rational  than  they 
seem. 

The  Outlook  passes  lightly  over  the  huge  blunders 
which  have  brought  on  this  war,  mistakes  that  would 
bring  on  war  anywhere  whenever  made.  Doubtless  these 
delays  and  blunders  were  well  intentioned,  but  the  fates 
judge  men  and  nations  by  the  results,  not  the  purposes, 
of  their  acts.  Good  intentions  lie  at  the  bottom  of  the 
greatest  crimes  of  history.  The  present  writer  has 
opposed  federal  union  with  the  Filipinos,  because  how- 
ever just  morally,  such  unequal  yoking  politically  would 
help  neither  them  nor  us.  Against  imperial  or  colonial 
dominion  he  is  opposed  from  principle,  knowing  that 
industrial  success  in  "  control  of  the  tropics  "  is  incon- 
sistent with  "  equality  before  the  law."  The  justification 
for  slavery  and  that  of  the  "  Crown  Colony  "  is  one  and  the 
same,  nor  is  there  appreciable  difference  in  the  results. 
The  empire  can  exist,  the  republic  cannot,  with  such 
dominion  accepted  as  part  of  its  function. 

But  these  theoretical  considerations  have  little  part 
to-day.  It  is  no  longer  a  question  of  imperialism  or  of 
expansion.  It  is  one  or  saving  the  lives  of  an  innocent 
people,  of  saving  the  honor  and  self-respect  of  our  own 
republic.  We  can  have  no  future  in  these  islands  save 
that  which  comes  through  the  present. 

Does  the  Outlook  know  what  really  takes  place  in  the 
Philippines  ?  Of  course  it  is  familiar  with  official  dis- 
patches and  with  the  text  of  proclamations.  These  tell 
of  a  difficult  task  slowly  and  unwillingly  accomplished, 
with  deeds  of  heroism  on  the  part  of  brave  men,  and  the 
loss  of  precious  lives  both  Saxon  and  Malay. 


THE   CAPTAIN   SLEEPS. 

This  is  true,  but  it  is  not  all.  We  fail  to  read  between 
the  lines.  For  the  rest,  we  must  take  the  word  of  naval 
officers  and  of  soldiers,  sick  or  wounded,  sent  back  to 
their  homes.  California  was  the  first  to  catch  the  fever 
of  expansion  because  it  is  nearest  the  glamour  of  the 
Orient.  It  will  be  the  first  to  recover,  because  it  first 
meets  face  to  face  the  heroes  of  Manila. 

Does  the  Outlook  know  what,  these  men  have  to  say? 

Their  words  contradict  the  Spanish  slander  of  Aguinaldo 
as  a  bribed  soldier  of  fortune.  They  show  him  rather 
as  a  patriot,  the  ally  of  our  leader,  the  valued  "proteg6  " 
of  men  who  had  authority  to  ask  his  help.  They  tell  of 
his  weary  waiting  for  some  indication  of  purpose  on  the 
part  of  the  Unitea  States  government,  of  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  at  Malolos,  of  the  adoption  after 
a  long  debate  of  the  principle  of  religious  equality  in  a 
country  of  Catholics,  of  the  choice  of  a  President  by 
a  free  ballot ;  of  the  Cabinet  and.  Congress  containing 
educated  men,  many  of  them  graduates  of  Universities 
of  Europe.  They  tell  us  that,  till  the  fatal  Fifth  of 
February,  "  life  and  property  was  as  safe  in  the  Malolos 
as  in  San  Francisco  "  and  that  the  sole  anarchy  and  de- 
struction of  property  which  has  taken  place  in  any  of  these 
islands  since  Manila  surrendered  has  been  in  the  few 
square  miles  occupied  by  our  troops.  Except  about 
Manila  and  Iloilo,  sell-government  of  the  natives  is  the 
sole  government  existing  to-day,  apparently  the  sole  which 
has  ever  existed.  Except  in  Luzon  apparently  no  other 
is  contemplated.  The  Mohammedan  sultan  still  enjoys 
undisturbed  sway,  and  I  am  told  that  we  pay  him  the 
same  tribute  he  exacted  from  Spain.  Even  savage  races 
for  the  most  part  are  at  peace  within  themselves.  They 


270  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

are  savage  only  to  the  alien  invader.  A  wasp's  nest  is 
a  home  of  peace  till  an  alien  torce  assails  it. 

What  does  the  man  who  was  on  the  ground  say  to  the 
argument  that  "  we  destroyed  the  only  stable  govern- 
ment in  the  Philippines  :  is  it  our  duty  to  set  up  another 
like  it  in  its  place  ?  Is  military  despotism  the  only  gov- 
ernment we  know  how  to  set  up?  Does  the  Outlook 
know  what  Manila  is  becoming  under  military  rule? 
We  hear  of  four  hundred  saloons  on  the  Escolta,  where 
two  were  before :  that  twenty-one  per  cent,  of  our  sol- 
diers are  attacked  by  venereal  disease,  that  according  to 
the  belief  of  the  soldiers,  "  even  the  pigs  and  dogs  on 
the  streets  have  the  syphilis." 

Does  the  Outlook  realize  that  Malabon,  a  prosperous 
suburb  of  Manila,  a  town  in  which  the  kindly  and  culti- 
vated people  had  shown  special  courtesies  to  the  officers 
and  men  of  the  McCullough,  was  burned  to  the  ground  by 
the  men  of  the  Monterey,  under  orders  from  the  comman- 
dant at  Manila.  It  is  easier  to  hold  a  city  that  has  no 
suburbs ;  for  this  reason  the  town  was  burned  and  its 
people  driven  out  to  starve  in  the  swamps. 

Does  the  Outlook  know  how  it  feels  for  a  young  man  of 
culture  to  set  the  torch  to  "  two  hundred  acres  of  houses  " 
while  the  people  are  kneeling  and  praying  at  his  feet  ? 

Does  the  Outlook  realize  the  picture  of  the  "  half- 
naked  savages  "  driven  from  Santa  Ana,  while  in  one  of 
their  spacious  "  huts  "  five  pianos  were  found,  one  of 
which  was  thrown  out  of  the  second  story  window,  to 
make  more  room  for  something  else  ? 

Does  the  Outlook  understand  that  of  30,000  or  more 
Filipinos  slaughtered  thus  far,  half  are  estimated  to  have 
been  non-combatants? 


THE   CAPTAIN   SLEEPS.  2/1 

Does  the  Outlook  know  that  our  soldiers  say  that  they 
were  ordered  to  fire  on  white  flags?  Does  it  remember 
that  since  February  6th,  when  audience  was  refused  to 
Aguinaldo,  these  people  have  had  no  chance  to  be  heard  ? 

Does  the  Outlook  know  that  some  regiments  of  United 
States  troops  have  "taken  no  prisoners?  " 

Does  the  Outlook  know  that  the  general  in  command 
is  described  as  a  man  who  rarely  leaves  his  office,  where 
he  conscientiously  devotes  himself  to  the  adding  of 
accounts,  "to  the  work  of  a  quartermaster's  clerk?" 
Does  it  know  that  the  simple-hearted,  loyal  hero  of 
Manila  is  conscientiously  sacrificing  his  reputation  and 
his  judgment  because  he  serves  the  United  States  under 
the  orders  of  the  military  commander? 

Does  the  Outlook  know  why  all  the  general  officers 
who  can  get  away,  escape  from  Manila  ?  Can  it  be  as 
the  soldiers  say  that  they  would  avoid  responsibility  for 
what  they  cannot  help  ? 

Does  the  Outlook  realize  that  few  of  the  officers  Aat 
Manila  have  any  military  training,  and  that  over  many 
of  the  bravest  troops  in  the  world  are  placed  as  com- 
missioned officers  men  who  were  lawyers,  insurance 
agents,  printers,  elevator  boys,  bartenders,  and  drivers 
of  beer- wagons,  a  year  ago  in  civil  life  ? 

Does  the  Outlook  realize  the  effect  of  the  promiscuous 
looting  of  towns  and  the  murder  of  "  every  man  that 
sticks  his  head  out  of  the  door  "  on  the  men  engaged 
in  it? 

Some  of  them  glory  in  it.  "  It  is  like  a  Colorado 
rabbit  drive  on  a  grand  scale."  More  loathe  the  very 
idea  of  war  and  everything  and  every  man  concerned 
in  it. 


2/2  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

Does  the  Outlook  realize  the  effect  on  the  country 
when  both  these  classes  return  home? 

One  soldier  says,  "  If  the  United  States  were  on  fire 
from  end  to  end,  I  would  never  raise  my  hand  to  put  it 
out."  Another  would  "  toss  in  a  blanket  the  officials  at 
Washington,  as  we  toss  a  cheating  corporal."  Another 
says  in  print,  referring  to  the  abuse  of  the  soldiers  by 
their  superiors  in  pay  : 

"  Yes,  I  knew  that  war  would  be  hell  before  I  got  into  it.  But 
I  did  not  know  that  war  would  be  Hell  deliberately  and  fanati- 
cally inflicted.  I  expected  to  sleep  in  mud  puddles  with  my  head 
on  a  stone  for  a  pillow,  and  go  hungry  for  days  on  forced  marches 
and  away  from  a  base  of  supplies.  But  I  never  dreamed  that  I 
would  have  to  sleep  in  leaky  and  exposed  sheds  when  there  was 
plenty  of  good  shelter  elsewhere,  and  when  thirty  officers  had  fine 
apartments  in  which  there  was  room  for  five  hundred  men ; 
neither  did  I  expect  to  be  fed  on  coffee  grounds  and  foul  canned 
meat  for  weeks  when  we  were  right  next  to  a  base  of  supplies, 
and  when  our  officers  lived  on  the  choice  of  the  commissary's  de- 
partment. Now  any  young  man  whose  ire  will  not  arouse  at 
such  deliberate  deviltry  is  not  worthy  to  live  under  despotic 
Russia. 

Does  the  Outlook  believe  that  a  country  as  large  as 
California  and  with  about  as  many  people  as  Mexico, 
and  quite  as  capable  and  civilized  on  the  average,  can 
be  subdued  by  any  army  the  American  people  will  main- 
tain? Can  it  be  held  when  once  subdued?  Why  must 
it  be  subdued  ?  Why  ought  it  to  be  ?  • 

It  is  true  enough  that  not  all  these  people  are  in  arms 
against  us.  But  all  with  whom  we  have  come  in  contact 
are.  If  we  try  to  bring  "  Law  and  order  "  to  Mindanao, 
do  we  not  know  that  the  whole  island  will  be  in  flames? 
Has  the  Outlook  heard  from  one  high  in  authority,  that 
we  have  "  to  kill  off  half  the  population  "  of  these  islands 


THE   CAPTAIN   SLEEPS.  273 

in  order  "  to  give  good  government  to  the  rest?  "  Does 
the  Outlook  realize  "  what  is  the  character  of  that  calm 
when  the  law  and  the  slaveholder  prevail?"  Has  it 
heard  from  high  authority  that  "  we  must  hold  up  the 
American  flag  even  if  we  shoot  down  ten  millions  of 
niggers,  dagoes  and  missing  links?"  It  maybe  that 
its  staff  will  become  so  bloody  that  no  free  man  will 
grasp  it. 

Does  the  Outlook  believe  that  the  commanding  general 
with  30,000  troops,  mostly  volunteers  held  over  time, 
will  conquer  the  Filipinos  in  a  thousand  years?  Has 
the  Outlook  read  the  history  of  the  Straits  Settlements? 
Does  the  Outlook  believe  that  with  100,000  men,  a 
brave  Indian  fighter  can  conquer  these  people  in  five 
years  ?  Does  the  Outlook  know  the  story  of  Achin  ?  Is 
it  true  that  our  Consul  at  Manila  declares  that  he  does 
not  expect  to  live  to  see  the  end  of  this  war? 

Has  the  Outlook  read  the  story  of  Mexico?  Does  it 
know  how  a  feeble  people  cast  off  an  alien  yoke  and 
spurned  foreign  help,  developing  at  last  into  a  peaceful, 
strong  and  orderly  nation  solely  through  forces  within 
itself? 

Now  it  may  be  that  soldiers  exaggerate  the  things  they 
have  seen.  Perhaps  so.  I  may  be  deceived  by  them, 
and  the  nightmare  I  have  conjured  up  may  be  my  own 
and  theirs.  But  the  men  I  have  trusted  had  learned  to 
see  clearly  when  they  left  California.  Their  words  are 
not  so  mild  as  those  I  have  chosen.  If  the  Outlook  knew 
all  that  has  come  to  those  of  us  in  California  who  have 
sought  for  the  truth,  it  would  set  up  no  plea  of  mitigation. 
The  magazines  are  full  of  stories  of  "  What  I  did  in 
Cuba  "  from  officers  who  took  part  in  that  campaign. 


274  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

But  no  one  prints  "  What  I  saw  in  Luzon."  Not  glory 
but  the  court-martial  awaits  the  man  who  saw.  If  it 
were  seen  by  the  country,  the  country  would  burn  with 
wrath  hotter  than  the  flames  that  consumed  Malabon. 

In  such  case,  what  is  the  duty  of  the  President?  What 
is  the  duty  of  Congress?  What  of  Christian  citizens? 
WThat  of  the  editor  of  the  Christian  journal? 

Do  what  you  will  with  the  Philippines,  if  you  can  do 
it  in  peace — but  stop  this  war. 

It  is  our  fault  and  ours  alone  that  this  war  began.  It 
is  our  crime  that  it  continues. 

We  make  no  criticism  of  the  kindly  and  popular 
President  of  the  United  States,  save  this  one  :  He  does 
not  realize  the  wild  fury  of  the  forces  he  has  unwillingly 
and  unwittingly  brought  into  action.  These  must  be 
kept  instantly  and  constantly  in  hand.  The  authority  to 
do  rests  with  him  alone,  and  if  ever  "  strenuous  life  " 
was  needed  in  the  nation,  it  is  in  the  guiding  hand  of 
to-day.  The  ship  is  on  fire.  The  Captain  sleeps.  The 
sailors  storm  in  vain  at  his  door.  When  he  shall  rise, 
we  doff  our  hats  in  respectful  obeisance.  If  we  have 
brought  a  false  alarm,  on  our  heads  rests  the  penalty. 


VIII. 
THE  LAST  OF  THE  PURITANS. 


VIII. 
THE  LAST  OF  THE  PURITANS.* 

I  HAVE  a  word  to  say  of  Thoreau,  and  of  an  episode 
which  brought  his  character  into  bold  relief,  and  which 
has  fairly  earned  for  him  a  place  in  American  history,  as 
well  as  in  our  literature. 

I  do  not  wish  now  to  give  any  account  of  the  life  of 
Thoreau.  In  the  preface  to  his  volume  called  "  Excur- 
sions "  you  will  find  a  biographical  sketch,  written  by 
the  loving  hand  of  Mr.  Emerson,  his  neighbor  and  friend. 
Neither  shall  I  enter  into  any  justification  of  Thoreau's 
peculiar  mode  of  life,  nor  shall  I  describe  the  famous 
cabin  in  the  pine  woods  by  Waldon  Pond,  already  be- 
coming the  Mecca  of  the  Order  of  Saunterers,  whose 
great  prophet  was  Thoreau.  His  profession  of  land- 
surveyor  was  one  naturally  adopted  by  him ;  for  to  him 
every  hill  and  forest  was  a  being,  each  with  its  own  in- 
dividuality. This  profession  kept  him  in  the  fields  and 
woods,  with  the  sky  over  his  head  and  the  mold  under 
his  feet.  It  paid  him  the  money  needed  for  his  daily 
wants,  and  he  cared  for  no  more. 

He  seldom  went  far  away  from  Concord,  and,  in  a 

^Address  before  the  California  State   Normal  School,  at   San 
Jose,  1892. 

277 


278  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

half-playful  way,  he  used  to  view  everything  in  the  world 
from  a  Concord  standpoint.  All  the  grandest  trees  grew 
there  and  all  the  rarest  flowers  and  nearly  all  the  phe- 
nomena of  nature  could  be  observed  at  Concord. 

"Nothing  can  be  hoped  of  you,"  he  said,  "if  this  bit 
of  mold  under  your  feet  is  not  sweeter  to  you  than  any 
other  in  this  world — in  any  world." 

Although  one  of  the  most  acute  of  observers,  Thoreau 
was  never  reckoned  among  the  scientific  men  of  his  time. 
He  was  never  a  member  of  any  Natural  History  Society, 
nor  of  any  Academy  of  Sciences,  bodies  which,  in  a  gen- 
eral way,  he  held  in  not  altogether  unmerited  contempt. 
When  men  band  together  for  the  study  of  nature,  they 
first  draft  a  long  constitution,  with  its  attendant  by-laws, 
and  then  proceed  to  the  election  of  officers,  and,  by  and 
by,  the  study  of  nature  becomes  subordinate  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  organization. 

In  technical  scientific  work,  Thoreau  took  little  pleas- 
ure. It  is  often  pedantic,  often  bloodless,  and  often  it 
is  a  source  of  inspiration  only  to  him  by  whom  the  work 
is  done.  Animals  and  plants  were  interesting  to  him,  not 
in  their  structure  and  genealogical  affinities,  but  in  their  re- 
lations to  his  mind.  He  loved  wild  things,  not  alone  for 
themselves,  but  for  the  tonic  effect  of  their  savagery  upon 
him. 

"I  wish  to  speak  a  word  for  nature,"  he  said,  "for 
absolute  freedom  and  wildness,  as  contrasted  with  a 
freedom  and  culture  merely  civil,  to  regard  man  as  an 
inhabitant,  a  part  and  parcel  of  nature,  rather  than  as  a 
member  of  society.  I  wish  to  make  an  extreme  state- 
ment ;  if  so,  I  may  make  an  emphatic  one,  for  there  are 
enough  champions  of  civilization.  The  minister  and  the 


THE   LAST   OF  THE   PURITANS.  279 

school  committees,  and  every  one  of  you,  will  take  care 
of  that." 

To  Thoreau's  admirers,  he  is  the  prophet  of  the  fields 
and  woods,  the  interpreter  of  nature,  and  his  every  word 
has  to  them  the  deepest  significance.  He  is  the  man  who 

"  Lives  all  alone,  close  to  the  bone, 
And  where  life  is  sweetest,  constantly  eatest." 

They  resent  all  criticism  of  his  life  or  his  words.  They 
are  impatient  of  all  analysis  of  his  methods  or  of  his 
motives,  and  a  word  of  praise  of  him  is  the  surest  pass- 
port to  their  good  graces. 

But  the  critics  sometimes  miss  the  inner  harmony 
which  Thoreau's  admirers  see,  and  discern  only  queer 
paradoxes  and  extravagances  of  statement  where  the 
others  hear  the  voice  of  nature's  oracle.  With  most  lit- 
erary men,  the  power  of  disposition  of  those  who  know 
or  understand  their  writings  is  in  some  degree  a  matter 
of  literary  culture.  It  is  hardly  so  in  the  case,  of  Tho- 
reau. 

The  most  illiterate  man  I  know  who  had  ever  heard  of 
Thoreau,  Mr.  Barney  Mullins,  of  Freedom  Center,  Outa- 
gamie  County,  Wisconsin,  was  a  most  ardent  admirer  of 
Thoreau,  while  the  most  eminent  critic  in  America,  James 
Russell  Lowell,  does  him  scant  justice.  To  Lowell,  the 
finest  thoughts  ^  of  Thoreau  are  but  strawberries  from 
Emerson's  garden,  and  other  critics  have  followed  back 
these  same  strawberries  through  Emerson's  to  still  older 
gardens,  among  them  to  that  of  Sir  Thomas  Browne. 

But,  setting  the  critics  aside,  let  me  tell  you  about 
Barney  Mullins.  Twenty  years  ago,  I  lived  for  a  year  in 
the  northern  part  of  Wisconsin.  The  snow  is  very  deep 
19 


280  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

in  the  winter  there,  and  once  I  rode  into  town  through 
the  snowbanks  on  a  sled  drawn  by  two  oxen  and  driven 
by  Barney  Mullins.  Barney  was  born  on  the  banks  of 
Killarney,  and  he  could  scarcely  be  said  to  speak  the 
English  language.  He  told  me  that  before  he  came  to 
Freedom  Centre  he  had  lived  in  a  town  called  Concord, 
in  Massachusetts.  I  asked  him  if  he  had  happened  to 
know  a  man  there  by  the  name  of  Henry  Thoreau.  He 
at  once  grew  enthusiastic  and  he  said,  among  other 
things  :  "  Mr.  Thoreau  was  a  land-surveyor  in  Concord. 
I  knew  him  well.  He  had  a  way  of  his  own,  and  he 
didn't  care  much  about  money ;  but  if  there  ever  was  a 
gentleman  alive,  he  was  one." 

Barney  seemed  much  saddened  when  I  told  him  that 
Mr.  Thoreau  had  been  dead  a  dozen  years.  On  part- 
ing, he  asked  me  to  come  out  sometime  to  Freedom 
Centre,  and  to  spend  a  night  with  him.  He  hadn't 
much  of  a  room  to  offer  me,  but  there  was  always  a  place 
in  his  house  for  a  friend  of  Mr.  Thoreau.  Such  is  the 
feeling  of  this  guild  of  lovers  of  Thoreau,  and  some  of 
you  may  come  to  belong  to  it. 

Here  is  a  test  for  you.  Thoreau  says  :  "  I  long  ago 
lost  a  hound,  a  bay  horse,  and  a  turtle-dove,  and  am 
still  on  their  trail.  Many  are  the  travelers  I  have  spoken 
to  regarding  them,  describing  their  tracks,  and  what 
calls  they  answered  to.  I  have  met  one  or  two  who 
have  heard  the  hound  and  the  tramp  of  the  horse,  and 
even  seen  the  dove  disappear  behind  the  cloud,  and 
they  seemed  as  anxious  to  recover  them  as  if  they  had 
lost  them  themselves." 

Now,  if  any  of  you,  in  your  dreams,  have  heard  the 
horse,  or  seen  the  sunshine  on  the  dove's  wings,  you  may 


THE   LAST   OF  THE   PURITANS.  28 1 

join  in  the  search.     If  not,  you  may  close  the  book,  for 
Thoreau  has  not  written  for  you. 

This  Thoreau  guild  is  composed,  as  he  himself  says, 
"  of  knights  of  a  new,  or,  rather,  an  old  order,  not  eques- 
trians or  chevaliers,  not  Ritters,  or  riders,  but  walkers,  a 
still  more  ancient  and  honorable  class,  I  trust." 

"I  have  met,"  he  says,  "but  one  or  two  persons  who 
understand  the  art  of  walking;  who  had  a  genius  for 
sauntering,  which  word  is  beautifully  derived  from  idle 
people  who  roved  about  the  country  in  the  Middle  Ages 
and  asked  charity,  under  pretense  of  going  '  a  la  Sainte 
Terre  ' — a  Sainte-terrer,  a  Holy- Lander.  They  who 
never  go  to  the  Holy  Land  in  their  walks,  as  they  pre- 
tend, are  indeed  mere  idlers  and  vagabonds ;  but  they 
who  go  there  are  saunterers,  in  the  good  sense.  Every 
walk  is  a  kind  of  crusade  preached  by  some  Peter  the 
Hermit  within  us,  to  go  forth  and  reconquer  this  Holy 
Land  from  the  hands  of  the  Infidels. 

"  It  is  true  that  we  are  but  faint-hearted  crusaders, 
who  undertake  no  persevering,  never-ending  enterprises. 
Our  expeditions  are  but  tours,  and  come  round  again  at 
evening  to  the  old  hearth-side  from  which  we  set  out. 
Half  the  walk  is  but  retracing  our  steps.  We  should  go 
forth  on  the  shortest  walk,  perchance,  in  the  spirit  of 
undying  adventure,  never  to  return,  prepared  to  send 
back  our  embalmed  hearts  only  as  relics  to  our  desolate 
kingdoms.  If  you  are  ready  to  leave  father  and  mother, 
and  brother  and  sister,  and  wife  and  child,  and  friends ; 
if  you  have  paid  your  debts,  and  made  your  will,  and 
settled  all  your  affairs,  and  are  a  free  man,  you  are  ready 
for  a  walk." 

,   '  Though  a  severe  critic  of  conventional  follies,  Thoreau 
V 


282  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

was  always  a  hopeful  man ;  and  no  finer  rebuke  to  the 
philosophy  of  Pessimism  was  ever  given  than  in  these 
words  of  his :  "  I  know  of  no  more  encouraging  fact 
than  the  unquestionable  ability  of  a  man  to  elevate  his 
life  by  a  conscious  endeavor.  It  is  something  to  be  able 
to  paint  a  particular  picture,  or  to  carve  a  statue,  and  so 
make  a  few  objects  beautiful ;  but  it  is  far  more  glorious 
to  carve  and  paint  the  very  atmosphere  and  medium 
through  which  we  look.  This,  morally,  we  can  do." 

But  it  is  not  of  Thoreau  as  a  saunterer,  or  as  nat- 
uralist, or  as  an  essayist,  that  I  wish  to  speak,  but  as 
a  moralist,  and  this  in  relation  to  American  politics. 
Thoreau  lived  in  a  dark  day  of  our  political  history.  At 
one  time  he  made  a  declaration  of  independence  in  a 
small  way,  and  refused  allegiance  and  poll-tax  to  a  Govern- 
ment built  on  a  conier-stone  of  human  slavery.  Be- 
cause of  this  he  was  put  into  jail,  where  he  remained  one 
night,  and  where  he  made  some  curious  observations  on 
his  townspeople  as  viewed  from  the  inside  of  the  bars. 
Emerson  came  along  in  the  morning,  and  asked  him  what 
he  was  there  for.  "  Why  are  you  not  in  here,  Mr.  Emer- 
son? "  was  his  reply;  for  it  seemed  to  him  that  no  man 
had  the  right  to  be  free  in  a  country  where  some  men 
were  slaves. 

''Voting  for  the  right,"  Thoreau  said,  "is  doing  noth- 
ing for  it ;  it  is  only  expressing  feebly  your  desire  that 
right  should  prevail."  He  would  not  for  an  instant 
recognize  that  political  organization  as  his  government 
which  was  the  slave's  government  also.  "  In  fact,"  he 
said,  "  I  will  quietly,  after  my  fashion,  declare  war  with 
the  State.  Under  a  government  which  imprisons  any 
unjustly,  the  true  place  for  a  just  man  is  also  a  prison. 


THE   LAST   OF  THE   PURITANS.  283 

I  know  this  well,  that  if  one  thousand,  if  one  hundred,  or 
if  one  honest  man  in  this  State  of  Massachusetts,  ceas- 
ing to  remain  in  this  copartnership,  should  be  locked 
up  in  the  county  jail  therefor,  it  would  be  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  America.  It  matters  not  how  small  the 
beginning  may  seem  to  be,  what  is  once  well  done  is 
done  forever." 

Thoreau's  friends  paid  his  taxes  for  him,  and  he  was 
set  free,  so  that  the  whole  affair  seemed  like  a  joke. 
Yet,  as  Robert  Lewis  Stevenson  says,  "  If  his  example 
had  been  followed  by  a  hundred,  or  by  thirty  of  his 
followers,  it  would  have  greatly  precipitated  the  era  of 
freedom  and  justice.  We  feel  the  misdeeds  of  our 
country  with  so  little  fervor,  for  we  are  not  witnesses  to 
the  suffering  they  cause.  But  when  we  see  them  awake 
an  active  horror  in  our  fellow-men;  when  we  see  a 
neighbor  prefer  to  lie  in  prison  than  be  so  much  as 
passively  implicated  in  their  perpetration,  even  the 
dullest  of  us  will  begin  to  realize  them  with  a  quicker 
pulse." 

In  the  feeling  that  a  wrong,  no  matter  how  great,  must 
fall  before  the  determined  assault  of  a  man,  no  matter 
how  weak,  Thoreau  found  the  reason  for  his  action. 
The  operation  of  the  laws  of  God  is  like  an  incontrol- 
lable  torrent.  Nothing  can  stand  before  them;  but 
the  work  of  a  single  man  may  set  the  torrent  in  motion 
which  will  sweep  away  the  accumulations  of  centuries  of 
wrong. 

y/There  is  a  long  chapter  in  our  national  history  which 
is  not  a  glorious  record.  Most  of  us  are  too  young  to 
remember  much  of  politics  under  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law,  or  to  understand  the  deference  which  politicians 


284  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

of  every  grade  then  paid  to  the  peculiar  institution.  It 
was  in  those  days  in  the  Middle  West  that  Kentucky 
blackguards,  backed  by  the  laws  of  the  United  States, 
and  aided  not  by  Northern  blackguards  alone,  but 
by  many  of  the  best  citizens  of  those  States,  chased 
runaway  slaves  through  the  streets  of  our  Northern 
capitals. 

And  not  the  politicians  alone,  but  the  teachers  and 
preachers,  took  their  turn  in  paying  tribute  to  Caesar. 
We  were  told  that  the  Bible  itself  was  a  champion  of 
slavery.  Two  of  our  greatest  theologians  in  the  North 
declared  at  Princeton  and  at  Bowdoin  in  the  name  of 
the  Higher  Law,  that  slavery  was  a  holy  thing,  which 
the  Lord,  who  cursed  Canaan,  would  ever  uphold. 

For  these  men  believed  sincerely  that  the  poor  and 
the  weak  should  serve  the  strong  and  the  wise  for  their 
own  good  as  well  as  for  material  prosperity.  The  Un- 
known God  of  the  nations,  they  know  not  how  to  wor- 
ship cares  for  manhood,  not  order  nor  prosperity.  For 
every  drop  of  blood  drawn  by  the  lash  in  their  despotic 
benevolence,  He  drew  "  another  by  the  sword." 

In  those  days  there  came  a  man  from  the  West — a 
tall,  gaunt,  grizzly,  shaggy-haired,  God-fearing  man,  a 
son  of  the  Puritans,  whose  ancestors  came  over  on  the 
Mayflower.  A  dangerous  fanatic  or  lunatic,  he  was  called, 
and,  with  the  aid  of  a  few  poor  negroes  whom  he  had 
stolen  from  slavery,  he  defied  the  power  of  this  whole 
slave-catching  United  States.  A  little  square  brick  build- 
ing, once  a  sort  of  car-shop,  stands  near  the  railway 
station  in  the  town  of  Harper's  Ferry,  with  the  moun- 
tain wall  not  far  behind  it,  and  the  Potomac  River  run- 
ning below.  And  from  this  building  was  fired  the  shot 


THE   LAST   OF  THE   PURITANS.  285 

which  pierced  the  heart  of  slavery.  And  the  Governor 
of  Virginia  captured  this  man,  and  took  him  out  and 
bung  him,  and  laid  his  body  in  the  grave,  where  it  still 
lies  moldering.  But  there  was  part  of  him  not  in  the 
jurisdiction  of  Virginia,  a  part  which  they  could  neither 
hang  nor  bury ;  and,  to  the  infinite  surprise  of  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Virginia,  his  soul  went  marching  on. 

When  they  heard  in  Concord  that  John  Brown  had 
been  captured,  and  was  soon  to  be  hung,  Thoreau  sent 
notice  through  the  city  that  he  would  speak  in  the  public 
hall  on  the  condition  and  character  of  John  Brown,  on 
Sunday  evening,  and  invited  all  to  be  present. 

The  Republican  Committee  and  the  Committee  of  the 
Abolitionists  sent  word  to  him  that  this  was  no  time  to 
speak ;  to  discuss  such  matters  then  was  premature  and 
inadvisable.  He  replied  :  "I  did  not  send  to  you  for 
advice,  but  to  tell  you  that  I  am  going  to  speak."  The 
selectmen  of  Concord  dared  neither  grant  nor  refuse  him 
the  hall.  At  last  they  ventured  to  lose  the  key  in  a 
place  where  they  thought  he  could  find  it. 

This  address  of  Thoreau,  "  A  Plea  for  Captain  John 
Brown,"  should  be  a  classic  in  American  history.  We 
do  not  always  realize  that  the  time  of  American  history 
is  now.  The  dates  of  the  settlement  of  Jamestown,  and 
Plymouth,  and  St.  Augustine  do  not  constitute  our  his- 
tory. Columbus  did  not  discover  us.  In  a  high  sense, 
the  true  America  is  barely  thirty  years  old,  and  its  first 
President  was  Abraham  Lincoln. 

We  in  the  North  are  a  little  impatient  at  times,  and 
our  politicians,  who  are  not  always  our  best  citizens, 
mutter  terrible  oaths,  especially  in  the  month  of  October, 
because  the  South  is  not  yet  wholly  regenerate,  because 


286  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

not  all  which  sprang  from  the  ashes  of  the  slave-pen 
were  angels  of  light. 

But  let  us  be  patient  while  the  world  moves  on.  Forty 
years  ago  not  only  the  banks  of  the  Yazoo  and  the 
Chattahoochee,  but  those  of  the  Hudson,  and  the  Charles, 
and  the  Wabash,  were  under  the  lash.  On  the  eve  of 
John  Brown's  hanging  not  half  a  dozen  men  in  the  city 
of  Concord,  the  most  intellectual  town  in  New  England, 
the  home  of  Emerson,  and  Hawthorne,  and  Alcott,  dared 
say  that  they  felt  any  respect  for  the  man  or  sympathy 
for  the  cause  for  which  he  died. 

I  wish  to  quote  a  few  passages  from  this  "  Plea  for 
Captain  John  Brown."  To  fully  realize  its  power,  you 
should  read  it  all  for  yourselves.  You  must  put  your- 
selves back  into  history,  now  already  seeming  almost 
ancient  history  to  us,  to  the  period  when  Buchanan  was 
President — the  terrible  sultry  lull  just  before  the  great 
storm.  You  must  picture  the  audience  of  the  best  peo- 
ple in  Massachusetts,  half- sympathizing  with  Captain 
Brown,  half  afraid  of  being  guilty  of  treason  in  so  doing. 
You  must  picture  the  speaker,  with  his  clear-cut,  earnest 
features  and  penetrating  voice.  No  preacher,  no  politi- 
cian, no  professional  reformer,  no  Republican,  no  Demo- 
crat ;  a  man  who  never  voted ;  a  naturalist  whose  com- 
panions were  the  flowers  and  the  birds,  the  trees  and 
the  squirrels.  It  was  the  voice  of  Nature  in  protest 
against  slavery  and  in  plea  for  Captain  Brown. 

"  My  respect  for  my  fellow-men,"  said  Thoreau,  "  is 
not  being  increased  these  days.  I  have  noticed  the 
cold-blooded  way  in  which  men  speak  of  this  event,  as 
if  an  ordinary  malefactor,  though  one  of  unusual  pluck, 


THE  LAST   OF   THE   PURITANS.  287 

*  the  gamest  man  I  ever  saw,'  the  Governor  of  Virginia 
said,  had  been  caught  and  was  about  to  be  hung.  He 
was  not  thinking  of  his  foes  when  the  Governor  of 
Virginia  thought  he  looked  so  brave. 

"  It  turns  what  sweetness  I  have  to  gall  to  hear  the 
remarks  of  some  of  my  neighbors.  When  we  heard  at 
first  that  he  was  dead,  one  of  my  townsmen  observed 
that  '  he  dieth  as  the  fool  dieth,'  which,  for  an  instant, 
suggested  a  likeness  in  him  dying  to  my  neighbor  living. 
Others,  craven-hearted,  said,  disparagingly,  that  he  threw 
his  life  away  because  he  resisted  the  Government. 
Which  way  have  they  thrown  their  lives,  pray? 

"  I  hear  another  ask,  Yankee-like,  <  What  will  he  gain 
by  it?'  as  if  he  expected  to  fill  his  pockets  by  the  en- 
terprise. If  it  does  not  lead  to  a  surprise  party,  if  he 
does  not  get  a  new  pair  of  boots  or  a  vote  of  thanks,  it 
must  be  a  failure.  But  he  won't  get  anything.  Well, 
no ;  I  don't  suppose  he  could  get  four-and-sixpence  a 
day  for  being  hung,  take  the  year  around,  but  be  stands 
a  chance  to  save  his  soul — and  such  a  soul ! — which  you 
do  not.  You  can  get  more  in  your  market  for  a  quart 
of  milk  than  a  quart  of  blood,  but  yours  is  not  the  market 
heroes  carry  their  blood  to. 

"  Such  do  not  know  that  like  the  seed  is  the  fruit,  and 
that  in  the  moral  world,  when  good  seed  is  planted, 
good  fruit  is  inevitable  ;  that  when  you  plant  or  bury  a 
hero  in  his  field,  a  crop  of  heroes  is  sure  to  spring  up. 
This  is  a  seed  of  such  force  and  vitality,  it  does  not  ask 
our  leave  to  germinate. 

"  A  man  does  a  brave  and  humane  deed,  and  on  all 
sides  we  hear  people  and  parties  declaring,  '  I  didn't  do 
it,  nor  countenance  him  to  do  it  in  any  conceivable  way. 


288  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

It  can't  fairly  be  inferred  from  my  past  career.'  Ye 
needn't  take  so  much  pains,  my  friends,  to  wash  your 
skirts  of  him.  No  one  will  ever  be  convinced  that  he 
was  any  creature  of  yours.  He  went  and  came,  as  he 
himself  informs  us,  under  the  auspices  of  John  Brown, 
and  nobody  else. 

" '  All  is  quiet  in  Harper's  Ferry,'  say  the  journals. 
What  is  the  character  of  that  calm  which  follows  when 
the  law  and  the  slaveholder  prevail  ?  I  regard  this  event 
as  a  touchstone  designed  to  bring  out  with  glaring  dis- 
tinctness the  character  of  this  Government.  We  needed 
to  be  thus  assisted  to  see  it  by  the  light  of  history.  It 
needed  to  see  itself.  When  a  government  puts  forth  its 
strength  on  the  side  of  injustice,  as  ours,  to  maintain 
slavery  and  kill  the  liberators  of  the  slave,  it  reveals  itself 
simply  as  brute  force.  It  is  more  manifest  than  ever  that 
tyranny  rules.  I  see  this  Government  to  be  effectually 
allied  with  France  and  Austria  in  oppressing  mankind. 

"  The  only  government  that  I  recognize — and  it  mat- 
ters not  how  few  are  at  the  head  of  it,  or  how  small  its 
army, — is  the  power  that  establishes  justice  in  the  land, 
never  that  which  establishes  injustice.  What  shall  we 
think  of  a  government  to  which  all  the  truly  brave  and 
just  men  in  the  land  are  enemies,  standing  between  it 
and  those  whom  it  oppresses? 

"  Treason  !  Where  does  such  treason  take  its  rise  ? 
I  cannot  help  thinking  of  you  as  ye  deserve,  ye  govern- 
ments !  Can  you  dry  up  the  fountain  of  thought?  High 
treason,  when  it  is  resistance  to  tyranny  here  below,  has 
its  origin  in  the  power  that  makes  and  forever  re-creates 
man.  When  you  have  caught  and  hung  all  its  human 
rebels,  you  have  accomplished  nothing  but  your  own 


THE   LAST   OF   THE   PURITANS.  289 

guilt.  You  have  not  struck  at  the  fountain-head.  The 
same  indignation  which  cleared  the  temple  once  will 
clear  it  again. 

"  I  hear  many  condemn  these  men  because  they  were 
so  few.  When  were  the  good  and  the  brave  ever  in  the 
majority?  Would  you  have  had  him  wait  till  that  time 
came  ?  Till  you  and  I  came  over  to  him  ?  The  very 
fact  that  he  had  no  rabble  or  troop  of  hirelings  about 
him,  would  alone  distinguish  him  from  ordinary  heroes. 
His  company  was  small,  indeed,  because  few  could  be 
found  worthy  to  pass  muster.  Each  one  who  there  laid 
down  his  life  for  the  poor  and  oppressed  was  a  picked 
man,  called  out  of  many  thousands,  if  not  millions.  A 
man  of  principle,  of  rare  courage  and  devoted  humanity, 
ready  to  sacrifice  his  life  at  any  moment  for  the  benefit 
of  his  fellow-man ;  it  may  be  doubted  if  there  were  as 
many  more  their  equals  in  the  country ;  for  their  leader, 
do  doubt,  had  scoured  the  land  far  and  wide,  seeking  to 
swell  his  troop.  These  alone  were  ready  to  step  between 
the  oppressor  and  the  oppressed.  Surely  they  were  the 
very  best  men  you  could  select  to  be  hung  !  That  was 
the  greatest  compliment  their  country  could  pay  them. 
They  were  ripe  for  her  gallows.  She  has  tried  a  long 
time ;  she  has  hung  a  good  many,  but  never  found  the 
right  one  before. 

"  When  I  think  of  him  and  his  six  sons  and  his  son-in- 
law  enlisted  for  this  fight,  proceeding  coolly,  reverently, 
humanely  to  work,  for  months,  if  not  years,  summering  and 
wintering  the  thought,  without  expecting  any  reward  but 
a  good  conscience,  while  almost  all  America  stood  ranked 
on  the  other  side,  I  say  again  that  it  affects  me  as  a  sub- 
lime spectacle. 


2QO  IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

"  If  he  had  had  any  journal  advocating  his  cause,  any 
organ  monotonously  and  wearisomely  playing  the  same 
old  tune  and  then  passing  around  the  hat,  it  would  have 
been  fatal  to  his  efficiency.  If  he  had  acted  in  such  a 
way  as  to  be  let  alone  by  the  Government,  he  might  have 
been  suspected.  It  was  the  fact  that  the  tyrant  must  give 
place  to  him,  or  he  to  the  tyrant,  that  distinguished  him 
from  all  the  reformers  of  the  day  that  I  know. 

"  This  event  advertises  me  that  there  is  such  a  fact  as 
death,  the  possibility  of  a  man's  dying.  It  seems  as  if 
no  man  had  ever  died  in  America  before.  If  this  man's 
acts  and  words  do  not  create  a  revival,  it  will  be  the 
severest  possible  satire  on  words  and  acts  that  do. 

"  It  is  the  best  news  that  America  has  ever  heard.  It 
has  already  quickened  the  feeble  pulse  of  the  North,  and 
infused  more  generous  blood  in  her  veins  than  any  num- 
ber of  years  of  what  is  called  political  and  commercial 
prosperity.  How  many  a  man  who  was  lately  contem- 
plating suicide  has  now  something  to  live  for  ! 

"  I  am  here  to  plead  his  cause  with  you.  I  plead  not 
for  his  life,  but  for  his  character,  his  immortal  life,  and 
so  it  becomes  your  cause  wholly,  and  it  is  not  his  in  the 
least. 

"  Some  eighteen  hundred  years  ago  Christ  was  cruci- 
fied ;  this  morning,  perchance,  Captain  Brown  was  hung. 
These  are  the  two  ends  of  the  chain  which  is  not  without 
its  links.  He  is  not  Old  Brown  any  longer ;  he  is  an 
angel  of  light.  I  see  now  that  it  was  necessary  that  the 
bravest  and  humanest  man  in  all  the  country  should  be 
hung.  Perhaps  he  saw  it  himself.  I  almost  fear  that  I 
may  yet  hear  of  his  deliverance,  doubting  if  a  prolonged 
life,  if  any  life,  can  do  as  much  good  as  his  death. 


THE  LAST   OF  THE   PURITANS.  2QI 

"  '  Misguided  !  Garrulous  !  Insane  !  Vindictive  !  ' 
So  you  write  in  your  easy-chairs,  and  thus  he,  wounded, 
responds  from  the  floor  of  the  Armory — clear  as  a  cloud- 
less sky,  true  as  the  voice  of  Nature  is  !  *  No  man  sent 
me  here.  It  was  my  own  promptings  and  that  of  my 
Maker.  I  acknowledge  no  master  in  human  form.' 

"  And  in  what  a  sweet  and  noble  strain  he  proceeds, 
addressing  his  captors,  who  stand  over  him. 

"  '  I  think,  my  friends,  you  are  guilty  of  a  great  wrong 
against  God  and  humanity,  and  it  would  be  perfectly 
right  for  any  one  to  interfere  with  you  so  far  as  to  free 
those  you  wilfully  and  wickedly  hold  in  bondage.  I 
have  yet  to  learn  that  God  is  any  respecter  of  persons. 

"  *  I  pity  the  poor  in  bondage,  who  have  none  to  help 
them ;  that  is  why  I  am  here,  not  to  gratify  personal 
animosity,  revenge,  or  vindictive  spirit.  It  is  my  sym- 
pathy with  the  oppressed  and  the  wronged  that  are  as 
good  as  you  are,  and  as  precious  in  the  sight  of  God. 

"  <  I  wish  to  say,  furthermore,  that  you  had  better,  all 
of  you  people  at  the  South,  prepare  yourselves  for  a 
settlement  of  that  question,  that  must  come  up  for  settle- 
ment sooner  than  you  are  prepared  for  it.  The  sooner 
you  are  prepared  the  better.  You  may  dispose  of  me 
now  very  easily — I  am  nearly  disposed  of  already, — but 
this  question  is. still  to  be  settled,  this  negro  question,  I 
mean ;  the  end  of  that  is  not  yet.'  " 

"  I  foresee  the  time,"  said  Thoreau,  "  when  the  painter 
will  paint  that  scene,  no  longer  going  to  Rome  for  his 
subject.  The  poet  will  sing  it ;  the  historian  record  it ; 
and,  with  the  Landing  of  the  Pilgrims  and  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  it  will  be  the  ornament  of  some  future 
national  gallery,  when  at  least  the  present  form  of  slavery 


IMPERIAL  DEMOCRACY. 

shall  be  no  more  here.  We  shall  then  be  at  liberty  to 
weep  for  Captain  Brown.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  we  will 
take  our  revenge." 

A  few  years  ago,  while  on  a  tramp  through  the  North 
Woods,  I  came  out  through  the  forests  of  North  Elba,  to 
the  old  "John  Brown  Farm."  Here  John  Brown  lived 
for  many  years,  and  here  he  tried  to  establish  a  colony 
of  freed  slaves  in  the  pure  air  of  the  mountains.  Here, 
too,  his  family  remained  through  the  stirring  times  when 
he  took  part  in  the  bloody  struggles  that  made  and  kept 
Kansas  free. 

The  little  old  brown  farmhouse  stands  on  the  edge  of 
the  great  woods,  a  few  miles  to  the  north  of  the  highest 
peaks  of  the  Adirondacks.  There  is  nothing  unusual 
about  the  house.  You  will  find  a  dozen  such  in  a  few 
hours'  walk  almost  anywhere  in  the  mountain  parts  of 
New  England  or  New  York.  It  stands  on  a  little  hill, 
"  in  a  sightly  place,"  as  they  say  in  that  region,  with  no 
shelter  of  trees  around  it. 

At  the  foot  of  the  hill  in  a  broad  curve  flows  the  River 
Au  Sable,  small  and  clear  and  cold,  and  full  of  trout. 
It  is  not  far  above  that  the  stream  takes  its  rise  in  the 
dark  Indian  Pass,  the  only  place  in  these  mountains  where 
the  ice  of  winter  lasts  all  summer  long.  The  same  ice 
on  the  one  side  sends  forth  the  Au  Sable,  and  on  the 
other  feeds  the  fountain-head  of  the  infant  Hudson 
River. 

In  the  little  dooryard  in  front  of  the  farmhouse  is  the 
historic  spot  where  John  Brown's  body  still  lies  molder- 
ing.  There  is  not  even  a  grave  of  his  own.  His  bones 
lie  with  those  of  his  father,  and  the  short  record  of  his 


THE   LAST   OF  THE   PURITANS.  293 

life  and  death  is  crowded  on  the  foot  of  his  father's  tomb- 
stone. Near  by,  in  the  little  yard,  lies  a  huge,  wander- 
ing boulder,  torn  off  years  ago  by  the  glaciers  from  the 
granite  hills  that  hem  in  Indian  Pass.  The  boulder  is 
ten  feet  or  more  in  diameter,  large  enough  to  make  the 
farmhouse  behind  it  seem  small  in  comparison.  On  its 
upper  surface,  in  letters  two  feet  long,  which  can  be  read 
plainly  for  a  mile  away,  is  cut  the  simple  name — 

JOHN  BROWN. 

This  is  John  Brown's  grave,  and  the  place,  the  boul- 
der, and  the  inscription  are  alike  fitting  to  the  man  he 
was. 

Dust  to  dust ;  ashes  to  ashes ;  granite  to  granite ;  the 
last  of  the  Puritans  ! 

THE   END. 


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STAMPED  BELO\v 


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REC'D    MOrr.n: 


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